Do we know anyone else on this list?
Nope. The Wing Commander Prophecy guide claims the rest of the Top 40 are all people who enlisted before Custer's Carnival and served earlier in the war.
Blair's edge on Flight is pretty impressive, he's 5.1 points ahead of the second place. Maniac bested him on Marksmanship for just 1.7, so it was more of a close call. This score also tell us that 3 people were actully worst than Maniac on Safety! Yikes. I suppose navigation is pretty important on WC, even if on the games all we had to do is press "A".
The fallacy there is that we don't know what's behind the scores at all, so it's impossible to compare them. There are some courses where getting an A means coming to class... and others where you have to work your ass off for each percantage point.
well, maniac wasnt court martialed only because no one died. the transport was crippled, but the crew could escape in escape pods...
There's two distinct tellings, which must be separate incidents. The second, in the game, isn't really Maniac's fault... the first is the one where he certainly killed a transport crew.
The 'well known' version is from the Wing Commander I & II Ultimate Strategy Guide. Maniac and Paladin are escorting a Drayman back to the Tiger's Claw.
Four Gratha attack and a dogfight breaks out... when three more enemy fighters appear. Maniac fires both of his Darts at one Gratha, and then targets a second. Thinking he still has a Dumb Fire toggled, he fires another missile... which is actually a Pilum FoF. The Gratha ducks behind the transport to evade, the Pilum locks onto the friendly ship (which has already been damaged) and destroys it. Maniac claims (immediately afterwards) that 14 people died on the transport... Origin's Official Guide to Wing Commander Prophecy says 16. Maniac did face a board hearing over the this incident.
(Here's an interesting question -- what is Maniac flying? It has two Dumb Fires, a Pilum FoF and Mass Drivers... not one of the standard WC1 loadouts!)
The in-game version (which happens slightly later) has Maniac firing a Javelin at a Dralthi, which loses lock and then aquires a transport. The missile cripples the transport which is soon picked off by the Kilrathi.