Week 15 Summary I: New Pilots Training

Statistical summary, Week 15:

* Total Fighter Command Establishment: 1700 planes
* Strength: 1737 planes
* Balance: over strength 37 planes
* Weekly Aircraft Production: 6 Beaufighters, 8 Defiants, 55 Hurricanes, 25 Spitfires

Training the Aces

Derby winners are the product of trainers. So are successful fighter pilots. All pilots who fly in war or peace are the product of instructors who have taught them to fly. The RAF, at the time of the Battle of Britain and now, pays a great deal of attention to the training of their air crew. Pre-war training of pilots tended to take place at a somewhat leisurely pace. Directly the country went to war, there was a speeding up of the process. Anybody interested in finding out what it was like could do no better than to read Geoffrey Wellum’s book, “First Light”, in which he describes his experience of joining the RAF just before war broke out in September 1939 and the conclusion of his training when he joined 92 squadron flying Spitfires in May 1940.

There were two parts in the process of training: flying training and the intellectual task of learning what flying was about. You had to pass both to qualify.

The flying took the form of three stages. The first was the gentle art of learning to fly a really simple training plane. In 1939 it was the De Havilland Tiger Moth, a very light two-seater bi-plane. This is the aircraft in which the trainee pilot first got his experience of going solo which usually occurred after doing some 7 or 8 hours of instruction.

The next stage was, in those days, when the pilot graduated onto the Harvard. This was an American built and designed two-seater trainer which was a monoplane with a good deal more powerful engine than that of the Moth. It had some of the characteristics of a fully fledged fighter aircraft. In it the trainee pilot was moved from the simple aerodynamics of the Tiger Moth to the more demanding performance resembling that of a Hurricane or Spitfire.

Then came the third and most demanding stage of the training when the trainee was subject to the real test, both of skill and nerve of flying a real fighter, which in those days meant the Spitfire. This last stage was when the trainee really had to learn his stuff.

It was at this stage that the relationship between the instructor and his pupil became really crucial. Wellum’s description of his instructor tells the story. When Wellum, the newly commissioned trainee, met his instructor for the first time, he addressed him as “Sir”. The answer came back, “You don’t call me, “Sir”, Sir. You call me Flight Sergeant or Flight”. What this hardened instructor, in his late twenties, with sharp bright blue eyes and thin lips wanted was perfection. He was a hard task master and kept Wellum at it until he was satisfied. But he was probably responsible for Wellum’s survival when it came to the Battle that summer. The skills he had taught Wellum lasted him, not only through the Battle, but for two long years afterwards until Wellum came home from Malta at the end of his third tour. He owed his life to that instructor.

Throughout the Battle the RAF turned out pilots at an increasing rate to fill the gaps caused by operations, on the squadrons. The service never ran short of pilots, but there was undoubtedly a diminution in the performance of the newly qualified pilots as a result of the time pressure Training Command was under to get them onto the front line. It meant that the squadrons were having to rely on younger and less experienced pilots than they had started with. It was inevitable but regrettable.

Day 104 – 21st October 1940

Weather: cloudy with fog and rain

Fighter Command Serviceable Aircraft as at 0900 hours:

• Blenheim – 32
• Spitfire – 227
• Hurricane – 410
• Defiant – 13
• Gladiator – 7
• Total – 689

There were sporadic raids by single or small groups of Me109s over much of the southern counties and the Midlands, with some reaching as far north as Lancashire and Liverpool. Interception was difficult on account of the weather. The RAF flew 275 sorties but lost no aircraft, yet shooting down 6 enemy planes. One of these was a Ju88 which had tried to disguise itself as a Blenheim. The ruse did not work and the enemy aircraft was shot down on its way back to the coast.

At night Coventry suffered heavy raids, considerable damage being done to the Armstrong-Siddeley works. There were also raids over London, Birmingham and Liverpool.

245 Squadron Operational Record Book – 21 October
One operational flight called for at 14:20 by 1 section. Dog fighting. Formation and attack exercises carried on throughout the day. 1 section took off at 12.05 for Sydenham to meet and escort the aircraft conveying HRH the Duke of Kent, who visited Aldegrove station in the course of his Ulster tour of inspection. After lunch and an inspection of the station, a section of Hurricanes escorted HRH back to Sydenham. Hurricane P3657 piloted by Sgt E G Greenwood did not return from battle climb. News later received from the police at Toombridge that the a/c was observed to dive into Lough Neagh at high speed, exploding on impact.

73 Squadron Operational Record Book – 21 October
There was too much mist and the weather altogether too bad for the Squadron to operate as a unit, but twice during the day a pair of Hurricanes were despatched to intercept single raiders. S/L Murray and F/L Smith patrolled over the SE coast in the morning and F/L Smith and Sergt. Price were ordered in the afternoon to patrol base at 9000 feet. No e/a was seen but a Wellington which did not appear to have the proper markings was challenged but it soon proved itself as friendly. ‘Stefan’ has arrived this afternoon and been accorded the Honorary Rank of Group Captain. ‘Stefan’ is a Borzie presented to the Squadron as a mascot by friends in Cambridge.

Reported Casualties (RAF Campaign Diary 21st October 1940):

*  Enemy: 2 confirmed, 0 probable, 3 damaged
*  Own: Nil.