No factor contributed more to a new pilot’s success in combat than the number of hours he spent flying before going into action. Germany’s fortunes in the air began to change when it could no longer produce enough fuel to allow its pilot trainees sufficient time in the air. This was a trend that had been ongoing since 1942. In that year, and since 1939, new pilots got 240 hours of flying time before entering combat (British pilots received only 200 hours and Soviet pilots even less). But in late 1942, Germany reduced training time to 205 hours (while the British increased theirs to 240 hours, and the United States was providing 270 hours). In the summer of 1943, the British increased flying time to 335 hours and the United States went to 320 hours. At the same time, the Germans reduced it to 170 hours. A year later, the Germans were down to 110 hours, while the British were at 340 hours and the Americans at 360. Five hours of fighter training requires about a ton of fuel. As the war went on, the Germans had fewer tons of fuel for anything.

One of the more unpleasant aspects of air warfare is that there were only two kinds of pilots, aces (who shot down five or more aircraft) and targets (pilots who got shot down). There was no middle ground. There was no “average” pilot. During the war, a new pilot, on average, had about a 7 percent chance of being shot down on his first encounter with the enemy. As he experienced more combat, his chances of survival increased. By his tenth combat, his chances of getting shot down were less than 1 percent and tended to stay there for the rest of his career. Only 5 percent of pilots shot down five or more aircraft. The rest, for the most part, served mainly to provide victims for the aces in air-to-air combat. Only about a half of all pilots ever shot down another aircraft, and only 10 percent of that august group obtained five kills and qualified as an ace. Fortunately, many fighter pilots were able to apply themselves usefully in ground attack missions.

No one has yet figured out exactly what skills a pilot needs in order to become an ace. Flying skill and lots of training will help a pilot avoid being shot down but won’t make him an ace. The only way you find out is to put the pilots in harm’s way and see who are the natural killers, and who are the targets.