ubject: Flight Instruction: Then and Now
From: (BUFDRVR)
Date: 3/6/04 7:52 PM P

but it raises the
question as to whether the idea of using combat veterans as intructors was
abondoned and combat inexperienced instructors were used as a matter of
course.

.when I began B-52 Formal Training in the summer of
'95, there were but a handful of Desert Storm vets in the FTU. These guys did
have some good insight, but to be quite honest, I could not grasp or apply
any
of their suggestions. It was all I could do to learn how to fly a 300K+ lb.
aircraft at 500' AGL through the mountains, I was not able (nor was any new
crewmember) to perform defensive maneuvering tasks besides the very basic.
Once
I got to my unit and went through *mission qualification training* there were
many more DS vets and I had become comfortable enough in the jet to begin
taking advantage of their experience, particularly in the low altitude
environment.




BUFDRVR

Too bad that the commbat veteran's advice was not useful to you. I found that
it was very useful to me. There were itmes on a a mission when something
happened and I would f remember that it was just what he was talking about and
I would relive those training moments with that instructor, His description of
just how fighters attacked bomber formations was dead accurate. In fact I have
thought of him many times over all these years. I guess you never forget the
man who taught you how to go to war.


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer