[Bill Walker]

No need to shout John. I thought you would be able to put this information into historical perspective. I will try to help you with this. I will use short sentences as well.

The Americans serving with the RAF in 1940 would show up in the records under various headings. American in the RAF, Canadian in the RAF, American in the RCAF, and Canadian in the RCAF. Unless we track the true birth place of everyone serving in the RAF in 1940 (not just the birth place on their records), we will not get an accurate number. I don't know if anybody has done this. That leaves us with inference, from the data we have.

The Clayton Knight Committee began recruiting Americans in spring 1939. At that time the American forces were not recruiting in large numbers. This meant Clayton Knight got huge recruitments in 1939 and early 1940. As the American military began to ramp up, Clayton Knight recruitment would have dropped off. This means most of the 8,000+ plus Americans they recruited by late 1941 to work in or for the RAF probably came early on, in 1939 and early 1940.

Clayton Knight got the cream of the crop. Experienced pilots, mechanics, and others. We know that large numbers of other Americans joined the RCAF and the RAF in the same period - 1939 and early 1940. We know from Norman's data, and from other on-line sources, that the total number of Americans that joined the RCAF or RAF was well over 10,000. This matches the inference from the Clayton Knight data. Most of these 10,000+ would have joined up early, in 1939 or 1940. After that, an eager American could enter the US military directly.

This all means that the number of Americans serving in or for the RAF in 1940 could have been around 10,000. We may never know exactly. Records weren't kept that will answer this.

I thought I said all that earlier.