P-40 Warhawk vs Bf 109 by Carl Molesworth

Author:Carl Molesworth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: P-40 Warhawk vs Bf 109: MTO 1942–44
ISBN: 9781849088664
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2011-07-25T16:00:00+00:00

Luftwaffe student pilots practice formation flying in Arado Ar 96A trainers. Used for advanced, night and instrument flying training, the Ar 96 was a single-engine, low-wing monoplane of all-metal construction.

Although the Vultee BT-13 was officially christened the Valiant by the USAAF, it was known as the “Vibrator” to most trainees because of its peculiar shaking while in flight. The BT-13 entered service in 1939, and with more than 11,000 built, it was the USAAF’s most numerous basic trainer of World War II.

About an hour later, Knoke successfully completed his first flight in a Bf 109. He would go on to fly more than 400 missions and score 52 victories over the Eastern Front and during the Defense of the Reich.

The frontline geschwader provided operational training for fighter pilots prior to assigning them to combat units. At the time of his posting to a staffel, a fledgling Luftwaffe fighter pilot would have about 200 hours of flying time to his name.

The P-40 pilots who squared off against the Bf 109 in the Mediterranean during 1942–43 were the products of similar training to the post-Battle of Britain Luftwaffe jagdflieger. After completing preparatory military training, which could last for several months, USAAF student pilots commenced their flying lessons in primary school on docile training aircraft, mostly biplanes such as the Stearman PT-17. One of the main purposes of primary training was to weed out those who showed no talent for flying, but the students who graduated went on to the next level, called “basic” training in the USA. Here the standard training aircraft for USAAF pilots was the Vultee BT-13/15, a low-wing monoplane with fixed landing gear. Trainees flew the much-admired North American AT-6, a monoplane with retractable landing gear, in their final training phases, called “advanced”.

An American pilot would receive his wings and officer’s commission after about nine months of instruction and 200 hours of flight time. In the pre-war years, he would then be assigned to an active squadron, where his piloting skills would continue to develop while flying first-line combat aircraft. In December 1942 the USAAF instituted Fighter Replacement Training Units (FRTU) to give newly minted fighter pilots experience in the types of aircraft they would be flying in combat. The FRTU courses, normally about two months in duration, included instrument training and night flying, air-to-air and air-to-ground gunnery instruction and practice in formation flying and combat maneuvering.

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