PC Gamer interview.

[GnigruH]

Originally Posted by swiss

And yet the Brits still let them fly.
That only shows how desperate they were.

Sending 18 year olds with only few hours of basic training into battle is a sign of desperation.
Letting foreign experienced veterans fly hurricanes is not. It's opportunism.

[Avimimus]

Our armed forces can't execute soldiers (with or without trial). The only situation where this would be possible (as I understand it) would be if the soldier were actively fighting for the enemy forces (ie. not just a traitor, but a traitor currently engaged in active combat).

Originally Posted by Avimimus

Our armed forces can't execute soldiers (with or without trial). The only situation where this would be possible (as I understand it) would be if the soldier were actively fighting for the enemy forces (ie. not just a traitor, but a traitor currently engaged in active combat).

Also the RAF/Luftwaffe never employed commisars.

[1.JaVA_Sharp]

that's not quite true, Speculum Jockey. Part 2 of the JG26 war diary mentions an officer similar to that being assigned to the Geschwader near the end of war...



And during the Battle the RAF had something far worse then a Commisar available:

A file stamp called LMF, Lack of Moral Fibre.

[DefiantMk1]

Med campaign, November 1940...Taranto:

http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/.../p/taranto.htm

I can well imagine flying a "Stringbag" against ships...

Not only that, but Operation Tidal Wave with B-24's against Ploesti oil refineries:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Tidal_Wave

Ok, I might wake up someday....

[WTE_Galway]

Originally Posted by GnigruH

Sending 18 year olds with only few hours of basic training into battle is a sign of desperation.
Letting foreign experienced veterans fly hurricanes is not. It's opportunism.

Actually the RAF never sent pilots into combat with only a few hours basic training. The myth that pilots were thrown into Spitfires and Hurricanes with only 10 hours flying time total is ludicrous.

What did happen during the BoB was some pilots only had a few hours on "type". Hence they may have only spent 10 hours in a Spitfire before being assigned an operational unit BUT they still had extensive basic training in trainer aircraft and then aircraft like Gladiators at training squadrons.

The basic training in Gladiators was not just a result of a shortage of Spitfires and Hurricanes. the RAF found that pilots trained in Gladiators were actually more competent than pilots trained in Spitfires as the Spitfire was easier to fly.

[GnigruH]

Actually, first part of this statement is not about RAF.