XPost: soc.history.what-if, alt.history.what-if   
   From: aspqrz@tpg.com.au   
      
   On Thu, 21 Nov 2019 19:55:45 +1100, SolomonW    
   wrote:   
      
   >On Thu, 21 Nov 2019 00:00:29 +1100, Phil McGregor wrote:   
   >   
   >> Lack of experience was, indeed, a problem ... but it was lack of   
   >> *combat* experience rather than lack of *flight* experience. They were   
   >> sending newly trained pilots to operational units,   
      
   >In the book "The most dangerous enemy by Stephen Bungay" on p373, there   
   >is a short discussion on this question. He does not state the reasons why   
   >exactly, but he is firm that these British replacement pilots were not   
   >nearly as good as the old one.   
      
   Well, yes, they lacked the overall flying hours that the pre-war RAF   
   and early Phoney War RAF Pilots had by the BoB ... and it took a while   
   for the EATS to ramp up not only the flow through numbers but also the   
   level of skill imparted.   
      
   This was one of the advantages of the Allied system in general, they   
   DIDN'T keep their pilots flying till they died, hence the far smaller   
   kill totals of the Allied Aces compared to the German ones ... the   
   Allies pulled back experienced pilots and used them to train the new   
   pilots and, as the war progressed, training hours for Allied Pilots   
   kept on increasing while those for German ones kept decreasing.   
      
   Average Flying Hours Before Combat   
      
   Commonwealth: 150-200 (Pre-War), ~250 (1942), 335 (1943), 340 (1944)   
   US: 140 (Pre-War), 320 (1943), 360 (1944)   
   Germany: 150-200 (Pre-War), 240 (1942), 170 (1943), 110 (1944)   
      
   >Having said that, this problem would have affected the Germans too. Their   
   >replacement pilots would need time to learn, which is basically what you   
   >said.   
      
   Indeed.   
      
   Phil   
      
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