No Spitfire

When Robin Met Sara both the RN and USA benefitted from each others best practices

The British learned the better USN ways of coordinating carrier maneuvers with escorts abandoning the complex series of signals to what was basically 'The carrier can do no wrong' and the escorts conforming to the carrier along with learning the US practice of landing on (including adopting the US 'Batman' signals) and Deck parks....and Ice cream

The USN learned the British method of "Fighter Direction Office technology and techniques" including use of the 4 channel wireless system and practices that was superior to the then USN 2 channel system....and beer

Victorious_FighterDirector_42.jpg


'USS Robin's' fighter direction room in 1942.

And the RN learned about ice cream.
 
It's taken a few days, and I've only managed to look in depth at one of the squadrons mentioned but here goes.

No. 74 Squadron Spitfires.

Brief background - 74 Squadron converted to Spitfire I in February 1939 and went on to the Spitfire IIA from September 1940 onwards. 74 Squadron was involved in patrols over France from Hornchurch/Rochford during the second half of May 1940 losing four pilots (1 killed and 3 POW). During the Battle of Britain 74 Squadron was initially stationed at Hornchurch moving to Wittering in 12 Group on 14th August after the past few days heavy fighting for rest, whilst at Wittering they received a large number of replacements some of which stayed just a few days before being reassigned. On 21st August the squadron moved further north to Kirton in Lindsey before moving to Coltishall flying as part of the Duxford Wing on several occasions. On 15th October the squadron was moved back to the front line being stationed at Biggin Hill until after the Battle of Britain ended. 74 Squadron was classified as a 'B' Category squadron (one of only four) from early September and was kept at full fighting strength ready to replace depleted squadrons in the front line.

Stats

Pilots posted - 50
Pilots at start - 19
Pilots killed - 8
Pilots wounded and did not return - 3
Pilots at end - 27
Original pilots killed/wounded - 6
Original pilots posted away - 7 (one to another squadron)
Original pilots still with squadron - 6

Experience

I have used a rather crude method to gauge experience; average number of days flying the Spitfire across all members of the squadron on set days.

10th July - 249 days
1st August - 222 days
1st September - 161 days
1st October - 182 days
1st November - 199 days

On that basis it would appear that from the start of the battle to the end of August there was a drop in average experience of around 35% and by the end of the battle the squadron was still 20% less experienced than at the start.

BUT... that doesn't really give a fair representation of the fighting strength of the squadron. At the highest level there were over 30 pilots listed for the squadron in the final days of August, many of which were fresh from the OTUs, to get a better picture it would probably be more realistic to look at only the pilots that would be expected to carry out operations regularly, say the 16 most experienced in the squadron. This gives the following

10th July - 291 days
1st August - 257 days
1st September - 249 days
1st October - 266 days
1st November - 288 days

So now the low point is only 15% below the start point and and there is only a 1% drop over the course of the battle.

On a side note, whilst going through the records/books etc I've been able to look at training on type through the OTUs, thought it might be interesting. On average a pilot arriving at No.74 Squadron before or during July 1940 spent 18 days at the OTU dropping to 16 days during August but rising again to 18 days in September/October.
 
Flummox. Hours in type (training) is almost impossible to pull because it has to be split between ground school, class instruction, and flight in air (practical application). I'm going to stab blind and suggest that pilot cadets arrive from the training unit *based on 1.5 hour in type per day cycled" between 27-26 hours practical and with that much ground school at their training unit in type and with the rest class work. That is by no means an accurate measurement.
 
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