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Post by Jim on Aug 11, 2014 9:13:17 GMT 9
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Post by LBer1568 on Aug 11, 2014 23:34:32 GMT 9
One would have to guess that much of the damage/loss was related to inexperienced pilots/crew. They generated a lot of aircraft in a short time and training was very condensed. many of the early pilots had less than 20 hours of B-17 time when given aircraft. They all went through basic pilot training, but had very few hours of instruction in B-17. I guess it was OJT in the cockpit. Lorin
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Jim Scanlon (deceased)
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Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on Aug 12, 2014 0:08:37 GMT 9
One would have to guess that much of the damage/loss was related to inexperienced pilots/crew. They generated a lot of aircraft in a short time and training was very condensed. many of the early pilots had less than 20 hours of B-17 time when given aircraft. They all went through basic pilot training, but had very few hours of instruction in B-17. I guess it was OJT in the cockpit. Lorin
Fighter losses in training was massive.
There were a number of planes nicknamed "Widow Maker", because of the numbers of inexperienced pilots who were killed in training.
One of the worst was the Mustang, mainly because of the tremendous torque on takeoff.
Pilots were not used to that, as they had been trained in T-6s and going to the Mustang was a massive change.
The Navy and Marines had similar problems with the Corsair.
And, of course, lots of their new pilots were lost in carrier training.
When I was at The SCAB, there were still some scraps of B-17 and B-24 crashes around the Western areas of the base, near the Missouri River, and every so often a crash would be located in the river.
When you look at airplane registries of WW2, there are many of each type which were lost in training or other flying, besides combat.
Reading books about WW2 Aviation, there were many instances that squadrons switched airplane types in one or two days, with no prior training in the new birds.
The attitude was "all airplanes are alike", so strap in, start up and go.
Jim Too
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Post by Jim on Aug 12, 2014 2:10:23 GMT 9
With the P-51, the 2 scariest moments would follow being "forgetful"...... Even with the canted vert stabilizer, a rapid throttle advance from "cruising speed" to full throttle (not MAX), you could induce a roll without any aileron input............ The other was forgetting about the drag and yaw induced by the right gear retracting or extending before the left gear!!!!!!!! A good reason to leave the gear handle in the down position until you had about 50-75 ft. altitude.... You have to remember, that the training most -51 pilots got when leaving other a/c was how to start it and make sure the radiator door was open on take off and landing.
There were no 2 seaters' (like the one I flew) 'til the war was just about over. A lot of -17 pilots multi engine time came from B-25s, 26s and some A-20...... and then maybe just 10-15 hours... Imagine the WASPS... Don't forget that Tibbets used 2 WASP pilots to convince the men, that the B-29 was a safe bird to fly
Strange, how some of those 17s, showing up in several different places, after having been written off. Another strange thing is how so many were lost in the Pacific- before they were lost in Europe... Info not commonly known......
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Jim Scanlon (deceased)
Senior Staff
FORUM CHAPLAIN
Commander South Texas outpost of the County Sligo Squadron
Currently: Offline
Posts: 5,075
Location:
Joined: July 2007
Retired: USAF
NBA: Spurs
NFL: Niners
MLB: Giants
NHL: Penguins
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Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on Aug 12, 2014 5:34:35 GMT 9
When the 87th FIS was at The SCAB, it only had single-seat F(P)-51D Mustangs.
They had been in Japan and Korea, and had lots of skin patches on them.
No two-seat versions.
They got their training the old-fashioned way, flying the T-6D that I worked on, or used a Mustang.
I don't know how many two-place Mustangs were built and put in service during the war, but I think most of them were converted photo-recon models.
Jim Too
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