"vincent p. norris" wrote:

Yeah, I've heard and read that many times. The same was said about WW
II.

I've never heard that about WWII, but, in any case, it's not true. A couple things
*were* true about the WWII situation until about 1944; 1) pilots destroyed more
aircraft during training than during combat, and 2) most of the pilots in a given
class would not survive the war.

Just finished a book about LeRoy Grover, who enlisted in the RAF in 1941. Flew Spits
before transfering to the USAAF and finishing the war in P-47s. His preliminary
instruction was done in California. Slightly over half of his class survived the war,
but most did not become fighter pilots. Instruction in Spitfires was done at an OTU
in England. There were several crashes every day, and fatalities ran about 1 every 3
days. Of his class there of 42 pilots who graduated, 3 survived the war intact, 3
survived but were injured so badly they never flew again, and the rest were killed.

George Patterson
If you don't tell lies, you never have to remember what you said.