Thread: Battle of Britain remembered

Originally Posted by HUE166

I am amazed by the lack of experience that the average airman held when entering active squadrons during WW2. I don't believe you get fully proficient in any aircraft until you have flown at least one hundred hours in that particular type. Some of those men were going into battle with as little as 200 hours total experience and as little as 10hrs experience in the type of machine they were flying. That would really have taken some courage.

Yes - but that was a lot better than WW1, where pilots were sometimes sent into action with less than twenty hours total flying experience.

And you need to remember, that in 1939, the general view was that a competent pilot should be able to fly anything. And add the fact that by 1940 the position of Britain was desperate. And it was not just pilots who demonstrated outstanding courage; just think, for example, of the response of small boat owners to the request for help with the Dunkirk evacuation, where thousands of civilians, with no military training or equipment, volunteered to go into an active battlefront. Or the firewatchers, who stayed out of bomb shelters during air raids to provide first response to incendiary bombs.

People do this sort of thing when things look desperate.

John

Originally Posted by HUE166

I am amazed by the lack of experience that the average airman held when entering active squadrons during WW2. I don't believe you get fully proficient in any aircraft until you have flown at least one hundred hours in that particular type. Some of those men were going into battle with as little as 200 hours total experience and as little as 10hrs experience in the type of machine they were flying. That would really have taken some courage.

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early on as well don't forget , they had little or no air to air gunnery practice or experience.
cheers,
D