Battle of Britain pilots 'could not shoot straight' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...npilots130.xml Quote:
Some went into combat after just 10 hours of solo flying and without ever having fired their guns. Lack of training facilities, time and recruits severely hampered Fighter Command's efforts in the air, claims historian Andrew Cumming.
Historical documents show the "kill/loss ratio" for the key air battle between 24 Aug 24 and September 6, 1940 was "unimpressive", Dr Cumming found.
He said the Battle of Britain pilots – ''The Few" – have become legendary figures, not because of reality but because they helped form a heroic national identity. The truth is, he claims, that the RAF's performance against German fighters and bombers in late 1940 was "ineffectual" and we owe far more to the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy than we are prepared to acknowledge.
Dr Cumming, who based his findings on military reports in the National Archives, told The Daily Telegraph: "Whenever anybody criticises the RAF it seems to be taken as a slight against the pilots themselves, which of course is ridiculous. But for some reason – national identity – we are very proud of the original story and people can't tolerate any revisionism. That many could not shoot straight is a pretty important allegation. However, the evidence is that there was a lack of facilities, including not enough aircraft to tow practice targets."
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The 0.303 Browning guns used on Spitfires and Hurricanes were criticised in 1939 by Air Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, head of Fighter Command, who calculated that 300 bullet strikes were needed to shoot down a Heinkel bomber.
Dr Cumming said: "Serious historians recognise that a lot of German bombers that were brought down were stragglers.
''This inadvertently exaggerated the British kill statistics. Five or six would have a go at the aircraft and then all claim a half-kill.
Dr Cumming wrote in BBC History magazine: "New pilots went into combat with sometimes only 10 hours of solo training and without having fired their guns."
However, Dr Christina Goulter, a senior lecturer in defence studies at King's College, London, said: "There is a clear causal connection between the Luftwaffe's failure to achieve air superiority in 1940 and Hitler's decision to postpone indefinitely and then cancel Operation Sea Lion (the seaborne invasion of the United Kingdom)."
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I don't really want to comment on this "story" until I've had a chance to read the History Magazine article but, as far as I can see, there's nothing new here. It may sound sensational for the lay public but anyone who's read anything about te BoB knows that pilot training was so streched by the second half of the campaign that the above is true. And as books like
Fighter Aces of the RAF in the Battle of Britain state "only a s mall minority pilots accounted for the majority of victories"
BTW, I had a good look through this book a wee while ago and intend to get it soon. It looks really good:
Fighter Aces of the RAF in the Battle of Britain