"vincent p. norris" wrote:

I can't believe that either, George. That means that fatalities
among pilots exeeded 50 percent.

That's correct for fighter pilots who entered combat prior to about 1944.

I don't understand that. Do you mean he was trained by, or for, the
RAF in California in 1941? I've never heard of such an operation.

He was trained by a contractor. A man named Clayton Knight served as a "headhunter"
for the RAF. IIRC, he did the same sort of thing for China, finding pilots for the
AVG. American RAF trainees trained in PT-17s and AT-6s in California before heading
to Canada, where they took ship for Britain. Gover's class graduated 14 pilots to
Canada in late 1941; 7 survived the war.

I can believe that losses were quite high among pilots who fought
through the entire war. OTOH, they were much lower among those who
got into combat only a month or two before VE or VJ day.

Which is why I said "prior to about 1944" in my post.

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