Pilot Rotation

Pips · 9 December 2006, 05:36 AM

It's well documented how pilots in the Luftwaffe in WWII bascially flew till they fell in the cauldron of war.

But it seems that the German Air Force of WWI was equally guilty of keeping pilots at the Front for the duration; excluding short (a week or two) leave periods.
The French also appear to make that mistake.

Whereas the RFC had, sensibly, a hard and fast rule of rotating pilots back to Home Establishment after a fixed time at the Front. To the benefit of Instructing establishments and the pilots themselves.

Anyone know why the difference in outlook?

YavorD · 9 December 2006, 05:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cobby

But it seems that the German Air Force of WWI was equally guilty of keeping pilots at the Front for the duration; excluding short (a week or two) leave periods.
The French also appear to make that mistake.

Good question!
There is another view on the problem: rotation by unit (squadron), or rotation of staff with long term unit assignment to a particular theatre of operations?

Regards,
Yavor

TomVrille · 9 December 2006, 07:35 AM

There is another side to the issue of posting pilots or entire squadrons back to Home Establishment or extended leave. There are many accounts of pilots being lost just days before their long-anticipated leave or transfer. Similarly, there are many accounts of pilots being lost soon after returning to the front following an extended leave or low stress assignment. It appears to be related to "losing one's edge" in the business of air fighting.

vb136 · 16 December 2006, 07:58 AM

The French did rotate their flying personel regularly. I have rosters of most bomber units, and have noticed that few served with a particular unit longer than 12 months, there were exceptions of course. After that, they were posted away, oftentimes to training units/schools etc.
The only chance a whole unit had for rest, was when a new type of aircraft was introduced to the escadrille. This meant posting away from the front, to get the grip of the new aircraft.

DEM · 22 December 2006, 01:16 PM

British Empire airmen seem to have been on the front a long time. McCudden certainly fought in 1916, 1917 and was on his way back in 1918 when he was killed. Bishop flew combat operations as an observer in 1916 and had tours as a fighter pilot in 1917 (lasting almost six months) plus a month in 1918. He also spent some time on Home Defence looking for zeppelins. In all, he flew more than 220 combat missions. I'm sure people like McCudden, Mannock and many others ran up similar numbers.

I don't know for sure, but I think RFC pilots were on the front for three months before getting two weeks leave, then returning for another three months before getting extended leave. They may have had it better than the Germans and French, but it looks to me as if they, too, were kept way too long. Just look at the long list of dead British aces. Hawker, Ball, Mannock, McCudden, etc., were in action for a long time before being killed.

This seems to have been a problem in other wars as well. In WW2 Bomber Command tours were 30 ops. During the worst months of the war for the bomber crews, the life expectancy was 17 ops. Even in Vietnam, pilots had to fly 100 missions over the north at a time when the life expectancy was something like 85 missions.