How many flying hours for Luftwaffe?

How many flying hours did the average Luftwaffe fighter pilot have before he went into combat? Any data available?

Arthur Kramer 344th BG 494th BS England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany Visit my WW II B-26 website at:

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The average flight hours logged by a new Luftwaffe pilot entering combat for the first time declined from thousands of flight hours before the war and hundreds of flight hours in 1940 to averages of only 160 hours, 112 hours, and 80 hours.in 1944. By February 1945, the flight training hours were zero, because flight training had ceased.

Towards the end, at least one 17-year old Luftwaffe pilot took to the air in his Focke-Wulf 190 with only 6 hours of flight training in the air. The bulk of the flight training was accomplished on the ground to conserve precious fuel.

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Stephen Ambrose said that pilots had fewer than 100 hours, often much much less, but I suspect that was late in the war. Early in the war, I suspect that there was more and better training.

I have no figures available right now for the pre wars years except that it was high. In the latter part of the war from early 1944 onwards it fell to around 220 hours total but actual flying hours could be as low as 18. This was primarily due to a shortage of fuel and a chronic lack of experienced instructors.

The results were inevitable and such mass operations as 'Der Gross Schlage' never got off the ground.

I have seen figures for a first-time fighter pilot going into combat in 1944 as follows: American 500 hours, German 250 hours, Japanese 150 hours. I would be highly skeptical of any such figures, especially for the Japanese. (Who was keeping track? Did the average include the Kamikaze?)

How this compared with pre-war training can be judged by a factoid I just read about a Japanese squadron in Burma in 1942, in which each pilot had at least 2,000 hours.

By 1945, as posted, the training was almost non-existent. The Japanese compounded a fuel out of pine-tree roots that could be used for training and for cargo-hack flights, and planes were routinely manhandled out of dispersal and onto the runway before starting engines, in order to conserve fuel.

all the best

I never realised it was that little. I finished the war with a total of 1100 hours. Of that 250 were combat hours. Most of the hours were training and some general flying hours after the war in the Army of Occupotion and errends for the American military government in Germany. I was a bombardier not a pilot. I guess the pilots even had more.

Arthur Kramer 344th BG 494th BS England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany Visit my WW II B-26 website at:

According to the RAF data, training hours for Luftwaffe fighter pilots was as follows, (figures read from a diagram),

1939 to September 1942, 220 to 250 hours October 1942 to June 1943, 190 to 220 hours July 1943 to June 1944, 160 to 180 hours July 1944 on 110 to 120 hours.

The early war figure was more than the contemporary RAF training time, but by the July 1943 to June 1944 time period the figure is around half that of an RAF or USAAF fighter pilot.

A major problem for the Luftwaffe was until the increases in fighter production in 1944 there were not enough modern types in the training system, graduates needed more time in a combat unit flying the up to date aircraft before entering combat, if possible.

Geoffrey Sinclair Remove the nb for email.

Good figure. Thanks. Note however that 'basic flight training' did not send men into combat. Presumably there was some sort of advanced or transition training beyond basic (primary?) training.

When I said 'who was keeping track?', I was thinking more of the Japanese, where the training program was in shambles in 1944.

all the best

On 21 May 2004 09:50:50 -0500, 'Michele Armellini'

Depends on the period of the war. During the Battle of Britain (Summer of 1940) some pilots were getting very little time in the fighter airplane they would fly in combat with their squadron. Some figures of time in type were ridiculously low, such as 20 to 30 hours. Most of those who had such low time in their fighters had not even fired their weapons before being thrown into the cauldron.

Many of these newbies did not survive their first or second combat. But combat was indescriminate, many flight leaders and pre-war pilots were killed during the battle too.

Corky Scott

In the case of US fighter pilots, by 1944 they might have as much as 500 hours before they were committed to combat, with as much as 200 hours of that in the type they would fly in combat. By 1945 it might be as much as 600 hours total before combat.