On the training time and experience of Soviet military pilots during the Great Patriotic War

How long did the pilot training take place during the Great Patriotic War? Due to the urgent need to replenish the air force fleet qualified pilots, especially at the first stage of the war, training, for obvious reasons, could be very short.

Could the compressed time preparation affect the final skills of the flight school graduate? The question is more rhetorical. Historians aviation they argue about the numbers about what time during the Second World War was the most optimal so that the pilot could begin to professionally perform combat missions at the helm. There are also disputes over who could be called a novice at the front and who could be an experienced pilot.

The Sky Artist channel is considering a variant with the famous hero of the truly legendary Soviet film about the Great Patriotic War "Only Old Men Go to Battle". It's about Grasshopper. The dispute in this case is devoted to what experience that same Grasshopper had at the time of getting into the "singing squadron". At the same time, the consideration is not at all connected with an “idle” interest in the plot, but with the one who was the prototype of the film's hero.

About Soviet pilots during the Great Patriotic War, about the collective image of the Grasshopper, about a specific air battle - in the video presented:

Comments

[petrol cutter]

Gentlemen. I watched a film (ours of those times) training on takeoff-landing / flight in a circle IL-2.
And I realized that I did not understand nicherta.
How can you fly an airplane at all?
This is incomprehensible to the mind ...

[Torins]

Everything is simple and difficult at the same time) It's just that if you understand the physical principles that make the plane fly, just if you understand the performance characteristics of the machine, at what speed and at what position of the flaps it will lift off the ground, what angle of the elevator should be set so as not to lose speed quickly and not fall off. It's all really simple if you start to delve into it. More difficult is another, how to lay a turn with the least loss of speed, how not to go into a spin in a vertical manner, flutter, the ability to feel the car and much more. The first can be comprehended by many, for the second accelerated courses it is not explicit enough.

[petrol cutter]

You see. This is some kind of horror ..
By God, it's easier with ships.

[Mooh]

You see. This is some kind of horror ..
By God, it's easier with ships.

Not much. The ship is controlled only through two channels, if there is no steering wheel, but it has monstrous inertia and very bad maneuverability. Just like an airplane, it requires certain knowledge and skills. At the same time, there are an order of magnitude more different systems in it, and the skills of commanding a team are needed. I don’t think that learning to command a steam cruiser is easier than flying a single-engine piston aircraft. Much more complicated, I suspect.

[petrol cutter]

*Not much. *
Well, how is it not much? The ship, even though it stands on the water with God's help. Below water (without unplanned holes it will not fall through.
But the airplane, in at least three planes, is a very unstable apparatus ...
I think so!
Although, I could be wrong. Unfortunately, I didn't become an aviator.
Although I really wanted at one time

[Grandfather]

with the machine you need to become one, then you are an ace.

[Torins]

In principle, this is a necessary skill so as not to be killed by stupidity, to become an ace you need talent and a lot of luck, which grows from professionalism)

[Doctor]

Everything is simple and difficult at the same time) It's just that if you understand the physical principles that make the plane fly, just if you understand the performance characteristics of the machine, at what speed and at what position of the flaps it will lift off the ground, what angle of the elevator should be set so as not to lose speed quickly and not fall off. It's all really simple if you start to delve into it. More difficult is another, how to lay a turn with the least loss of speed, how not to go into a spin in a vertical manner, flutter, the ability to feel the car and much more. The first can be comprehended by many, for the second accelerated courses it is not explicit enough.

Both the first and the second are easy. Almost any normal person will master all of these sorties in 30.

And an air battle is a completely different matter.

It's not the laws of physics that are against you, but the unpredictable brain of another person. There is no instructor nearby who will tell you. Everything happens very quickly. And most importantly, there is no second attempt. If you hit an experienced one - a skiff.

Therefore, it is very important to enter into battle gradually.
In the beginning, generally fly over your own. Then cross the front line, stay on top, not getting involved and trying to understand what is going on in general.
Ideally, start in air defense, covering Moscow, trying to shoot down bombers without the opposition of fighters, ready to jump if shot down by a gunner.

But in that war, all this was unreal.

[Torins]

Seasoned veterans were trained in spare shelves, but of course this could not, due to the tight deadlines, radically change the situation ...

[isv000]

Plus, for diligence!

[Vladimir_2U]

Quote: Petrol cutter

I watched a film (ours of those times) training on takeoff-landing / flight in a circle IL-2.
And I realized that I did not understand nicherta.

You are missing the fact that the pilots sat on the IL-2 or any other combat aircraft already trained, on the U-2 for example. So there was additional training for a specific type of aircraft for pilots who ALREADY knew how to fly.

[Eug]

A very vivid example is I.N. Kozhedub, released from the school in 1941, until the summer of 1943 - an instructor of the same school, that is, the raid is simply huge compared to an ordinary young pilot ... but he was still hit, although he was on that moment a master of aerobatics.

[Konnick]

but still he was hit, although at that time he was a master of aerobatics.

Hit, but not knocked down. A big difference. Kozhedub always landed his damaged plane, and for this one must have great skill.

[Eug]

I mean, even aerobatics masters without front-line experience were not full-fledged fighters. But they became them much faster than others ...

[Konnick]

even aerobatics masters without front-line experience were not full-fledged fighters.

Of course, but besides skill, other qualities were needed, such as the physiology of the body, that is, speed of reaction, coordination, vision ... it's easier to say talent.

[Torins]

It is difficult to argue with this, and it is not necessary) Everything is so)

[Zug]

As practice shows, the number of flight hours of former instructors of years of schools did not affect their combat successes in any way.

[kig]

Quote: Eug

that is, the flying time is simply huge compared to an ordinary young pilot

The first German was shot down only in the 40th sortie! Or, for example, Hartman: arrived at the front in October 1942, shot down the first plane in November, and then there was a pause of as much as three months ... so this is not an easy task.

[geniy]

I watched a film (ours of those times) training on take-off-landing / flying in a circle of IL-2 and realized that I didn't understand a thing. How is it possible to fly an airplane at all? This is incomprehensible to the mind ...

It is a shameless general opinion that Soviet pilots were untrained in comparison with the Germans. Because it is said that Soviet pilots had a scanty flight time - only 10-16 hours, while German novice pilots - about 200 hours. In fact, the true picture was much more complicated. The fact is that before putting the net into a combat aircraft, each student first studied physics, then aerodynamics. At the same time, he was explained how lift arises on the wing and from what it is lost - for example, at critical angles of attack, or from loss of speed. Therefore, it is not surprising that the author of the previous commentary did not understand how to fly - he simply does not know aerodynamics.
So - after studying the science of flight, the cadet again does not get into a combat aircraft, but at first he taxied around the airfield on a wingless aircraft for several hours. And then he made small flights on a training aircraft of the U-2 type. And only then the cadet made several flights with an instructor, and then he was released on independent flights. Then the cadet was released from the elementary flight school and he transferred to the training regiment where he was trained on a specific combat aircraft - a fighter, attack aircraft or bomber. And this insignificant time of 10-16 hours takes into account only the time on a combat aircraft, and all amateur historians happily forget about what was the raid on the training U-2. But a raid on a training plane still gives a complete picture of the rules of flight - and the cadets were necessarily taught to choose a landing site from the air.
True, here we must take into account that the U-2 is very different from a combat aircraft. The fact is that all combat aircraft had a very high takeoff and landing speed of -150 km / h, while the U-2 only had 80 km / h. And besides that, the U-2 had a fixed landing gear and no landing flaps. And in addition, combat aircraft had a very powerful engine and received a turning moment during takeoff and landing due to the reverse reaction of the propeller.
However, a smart pilot could instantly learn to fly even on an aircraft unknown to him - for example, the well-known Devyatayev - who flew a fighter plane and instantly switched to a bomber - and a German one! And if you ask: how many hours before that he flew in a German bomber? Yes, in general, not at all - a complete zero! This means that the main thing is to know and understand the laws of aerodynamics.

[Zug]

The last stage of training in hours on a combat fighter or its training version is the root of training. The main thing to pay attention to. If a Japanese pilot had a flight time of 2 hours after graduation, what would you do with him on the same Hassan or Khankhin-Gol with your 25, for example? You will die quickly and that's it.

[Zug]

Maybe you shouldn't post "SkyClown creations" on the site? And then we are already going down to a cheap blogger, and also a liar.

[dgonni]

To understand the amount of our newcomers' raid before the front, you just need to open the site I remember. And read the memoirs of the pilots!
Former instructors had a much higher survival rate a priori!
For in aviation there is such a thing as automatism.
So the instructors did not need to look at the instruments to understand the spatial position of the aircraft. A larger plaque provided in the majority of cases from falling into a tailspin.
Unfortunately, even by the end of the war, most of the newly arrived pilots had very little air flight!
If you read Galland, at the end of the war the Germans had a queue of high-class pilots for howling for fuel.
The fact that they were mainly trying to beat the fortresses on heavy foreships. These are the preferences and priorities of the war.

[zenion]

There was a colleague at work, a former fighter pilot, who was drafted at his own request into the army as a pilot, the surname Nikolay Kovalchik. He said that they just grabbed and taught, this could not be. Checked on different devices and health. According to the plan, the training was supposed to be six months. He unlearned less, he had the ability to fly. I was already preparing to set off, new planes appeared, and I had to retrain a little over a month. Those who could not show the high quality of flight were not put on new aircraft. He ended the war in Romania during the Battle of Iasi. They knocked him out and crippled him. Barely walked and made a dispatcher out of him and taught the newcomers to aerobatics.