|
Re: FC rotation system?
Interesting topic. I've not seen any definitive document or correspondence on this, other than occasional references. I do not know about earlier in the war but by 1943 I am sure an operational tour was reckoned to be 200 sorties. In 2nd TAF this was reduced to 150 for Typhoon pilots in 1944 and then in the winter of 44/45 progressively to 120 and 100, with 'screening' taking place after 90 sorties.
For Wing Leaders the situation is more obscure as some would not record all their ops in order to keep on flying. Wg Cdr J.R.Baldwin was stopped flying operationally in October 1944 after '170 ops' in 4 months (146 Wing ORB), or '150+' (one of the sqn ORBs) but his log records 110 ops in that period. He had flown a lengthy tour with 609/198 Sqns before that.
Grp Capt Denys Gillam when interviewed for 'Typhoon and Tempest Story' claimed he carried out 2000 operational flights, which he confirmed when challenged. We did not have his logs to check then and published this total in the foreword to the book. Beamont had a fit when he read it! In fact in Norman Franks' 'Scramble to Victory', Gillam is quoted as having flown nearly 2000 hours 'about a third of which were operational' He had flown operationally from 1940 to '45. Oops, egg on our face ...
Beamont, who was operational over a similar period to Gillam, records 441 ops in his logs, plus 'about 50' recorded in a logbook that was lost during the evacuation from France in 1940.
|