[KM1957]

You are misunderstanding--there was structure within each group and squadron, but sometimes things didn't fit the "mold" everyone expects. Just like Lt. X did not always fly "his" plane on every mission. Not sure where the idea Squadron Commanders have to be a Major came from, but many instances are known of Captains doing the job. Even in Group Headquarters, there were times a Major was a Deputy CO, Captains were Group Operations Officers, and so on. I cannot explain how those decisions were made, but to say things were left to run without structure is false. Following is an example from the 396th Fighter Squadron, 368th Fighter Group as of April 1944. The Squadron CO, Ops Officer and Assistant Ops were at the top and flew with any flight they wished. Red Flight had 5 pilots with a Captain as leader, Blue Flight also 5 pilots with a Captain. Yellow Flight had 4 pilots and had a Lt. as leader. Green flight had 5 pilots and a Lt. as leader. White and Purple Flights each had 4 pilots and had a Lt. heading up the flight. Most squadrons I have seen had only 4 or 5 flights, but again, not every one of them had a Captain as leader.

Kent