Interesting article about Top Gun

XabbaRus · 03-24-09, 03:40 AM

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...y-British.html

Think I will get the book too.

03-24-09, 04:24 AM

"Gooose! Don't die Goose!"

*sniff* What interpretation, what depth of emotion.

UnderseaLcpl · 03-24-09, 05:10 AM

Why didn't we have the Germans set it up instead? They've always got the highest-scoring aces.....

03-24-09, 05:42 AM

We never had special schools for fighter training. To my knowledge, the same standarts applied to everybody, and still do.

Reasons for german aces scoring so high:

-up until 1942 very high standarts of training for "all" conscripts.
-lots of expirience gained in the spanish civil war.
-usage of new tactics, finger four, boom and zoom etc.
-state of the art equipment
-6 years of continues war. German pilots fought from the start to the end, no 25 missions rotations.
-target rich environments.
-a rather agressive attitude, the german term for a fighter aircraft, "jäger" is directly translated with "hunter".

All in all no magic in there. Just a lot of capable pilots in capable aircraft with capable tactics against masses of mostly inexpirienced pilots in obsolete aircraft without modern tactics.

That changed from 1943 onwards, however. Attacking bomber streams numbering to the thousand takes a lot of capability out of the equation and replaces it with pure luck.

WW1 was roughly similiar, however with the opposition much more on equal terms.

So, not really a reference for setting up modern day fighter training schools.

Sailor Steve · 03-24-09, 11:37 AM

Good points, Bewolf. I would, however, take exception to the conclusion of masses of inexperienced pilots overwhelming the pros. Part of the American 100-mission (not 25 - that was just for bomber crews) rotation was to have the experts teach the novices what they learned. If you take any limited time-frame and compare the best pilots from any nation, you will find that within the same periods the scores were about the same.

Kapt Z · 03-24-09, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Good points, Bewolf. I would, however, take exception to the conclusion of masses of inexperienced pilots overwhelming the pros. Part of the American 100-mission (not 25 - that was just for bomber crews) rotation was to have the experts teach the novices what they learned. If you take any limited time-frame and compare the best pilots from any nation, you will find that within the same periods the scores were about the same.

Yes. I'd say the sheer number of missions flown by the Luftwaffe pilots was the biggest factor in their high number of kills compared to other nations pilots in WWII.

03-24-09, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Good points, Bewolf. I would, however, take exception to the conclusion of masses of inexperienced pilots overwhelming the pros. Part of the American 100-mission (not 25 - that was just for bomber crews) rotation was to have the experts teach the novices what they learned. If you take any limited time-frame and compare the best pilots from any nation, you will find that within the same periods the scores were about the same.

Granted, but I was not thinking america here. The US played a role from 1943 onwards, and really came to to party only in 1944, at a time the war was basicly lost already. Thus I didn't really put them into the equation, else you are completly right. I do not consider our pilots that superior. It was just a combination of contributing factors.

03-24-09, 03:40 AM	#1
XabbaRus Navy Seal Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 5,330 Downloads: 5 Uploads: 0	Interesting article about Top Gun http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...y-British.html Think I will get the book too. __________________

03-24-09, 05:10 AM	#3
UnderseaLcpl Silent Hunter Join Date: May 2008 Location: Storming the beaches! Posts: 4,254 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Why didn't we have the Germans set it up instead? They've always got the highest-scoring aces..... __________________ I stole this sig from Task Force

03-24-09, 11:37 AM	#5
Sailor Steve Eternal Patrol Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: High in the mountains of Utah Posts: 50,369 Downloads: 745 Uploads: 249	Good points, Bewolf. I would, however, take exception to the conclusion of masses of inexperienced pilots overwhelming the pros. Part of the American 100-mission (not 25 - that was just for bomber crews) rotation was to have the experts teach the novices what they learned. If you take any limited time-frame and compare the best pilots from any nation, you will find that within the same periods the scores were about the same. __________________ “Never do anything you can't take back.” —Rocky Russo

03-24-09, 04:24 AM	#2
OneToughHerring Stowaway Posts: n/a Downloads: Uploads:	"Gooose! Don't die Goose!" sniff What interpretation, what depth of emotion.

03-24-09, 05:42 AM	#4
Bewolf Stowaway Posts: n/a Downloads: Uploads:	We never had special schools for fighter training. To my knowledge, the same standarts applied to everybody, and still do. Reasons for german aces scoring so high: -up until 1942 very high standarts of training for "all" conscripts. -lots of expirience gained in the spanish civil war. -usage of new tactics, finger four, boom and zoom etc. -state of the art equipment -6 years of continues war. German pilots fought from the start to the end, no 25 missions rotations. -target rich environments. -a rather agressive attitude, the german term for a fighter aircraft, "jäger" is directly translated with "hunter". All in all no magic in there. Just a lot of capable pilots in capable aircraft with capable tactics against masses of mostly inexpirienced pilots in obsolete aircraft without modern tactics. That changed from 1943 onwards, however. Attacking bomber streams numbering to the thousand takes a lot of capability out of the equation and replaces it with pure luck. WW1 was roughly similiar, however with the opposition much more on equal terms. So, not really a reference for setting up modern day fighter training schools.