"Pancaking" - During the Battle of Britain

[macmullin]

I just finished reading Hugh Halliday's Book - 242 Squadron: The Canadian Years. In the book he mentions about the squadron "pancaking" RAF code for landing back at the airfield. During the Battle of Britain, I had to wonder, what were the procedures and responsibilities of the pilots and ground crews. How long was the turn around time to get the squadron back into the fight quickly? How many personal (example: Armourers) and vehicles (example: Fuel Browsers) were involved? What was it like overall...was it similar to Formula 1 pit lane where every pilot has his personal crew, or was it like a litter of piglets trying to get to their mother milk - first come...first served?

If any one has any insight on on this phenomena, I think it would be most interesting topic to discuss and learn about.

[Graham Boak]

Each aircraft (not pilot) had a dedicated fitter and rigger. Engine fitters and armourers were available as required, rather than per aircraft. Refuellers would be a station responsibility.

Sorry I can't be more helpful with specific numbers.

[macmullin]

Thank you Graham for your reply. I apologize for my oversight, I knew the aircraft belong to the ground crew. I still have to wonder what kind of training and practice the ground crews would need to go through in order to get their pilots back up into the fight quickly. I would think there would be training manuals published and sections dedicated to these procedures.

I have an uncited source from Wikipedia that gives an idea of turnaround times:

'Although the Spitfire was more glamorous, the Hurricanes were more numerous and were responsible for most of the German losses, especially in the early part of the battle. The turn-around time (re-arm and refuel) for the Spitfire was 26 minutes, while the Hurricane's was 9 minutes, which increased its effectiveness...'


Some how, I would think there would be some truth to these numbers.

[Graham Boak]

To be fair, most of the aircraft (if not all) were allocated to specific pilots, at least to the officers in each flight.

I can see why the Hurricane would take less time to rearm, but there should be nothing in it as far as refuelling. Nine minutes appears optimistic.