Disclaimer: I don't own Ace Combat, Namco does
AN: This is based on the named pilots you encounter in Ace Combat Distant Thunder if you replay the game with SP continue.
Ciffreo: The ground pounder ace.
Lieutenant Charles Ciffreo was the grandson of the infamous WW2 fighter ace Thomas Ciffreo. Despite this he failed to successfully pass the stringent testing and training the Eurseans placed on their air superiority pilots. Instead he was transferred to close air support duties, flying an A-10 Warthog.
For most pilots this would be a sure-fire way to avoid becoming an ace fighter pilot, however Ciffreo found that in an A-10 he could fly much better than he did on other faster, more suitable air superiority fighters. His first kill came during the early stages of the war. An F-16 assigned to protect San Salvcion with his squadron attacked the flight of A10's he was with. Allowing the enemy fighter to overshoot him, he fired a sidewinder missile into the F-16's tailpipe. The pilot, a Franco Sarnor was captured and spent most of the war as a POW.
After that his kill tally steadily rose. ISAF planes in the close air support role discovered that there was an enemy pilot who specialised in engaging aircraft like his own. He also brought down several fighters that attempted to protect their fighters. A good part of his success was down to the toughness of his fighter. Often he would return with battle damage that would have destroyed other aircraft. The A-10's ultra impressive manoeuvrability at low level was his other advantage. He painted a hammer, hammering an F-16 on the side of his aircraft. This was his symbol. However, after the retreat to North Point by the ISAF forces, he saw little action.
Fellow pilots described him as a cocky and overconfident person, who overestimated his skills. His squadron was posted to Thomas Fargo airbase in preparation for a possible invasion of ISAF's new headquarters North Point. However most Eurseans, including him believed that an invasion of North Point was not going to happen. The bomber contingent at the nearby Rigley airbase would just hit ISAF GHQ and finish the war in short order.
However ISAF struck first. On the fifth of October 2005, two squadrons of ISAF fighters hit Rigley airbase. Against orders, he flew out to meet them, perhaps seeking one final chance to add to his kill record. It was there that he encountered Lieutenant Karl Gruber of the ISAF forces, more commonly known as Mobius One. His A-10 proved to be no match for Mobius Ones F-4 Phantom II at the higher altitudes and he was shot down. He failed to eject and his body was buried with full military honours.