I have a crual doubt....
How many aircraft and pilot there are in a RAF squadron in WWII ??
Many thanks for your help...
Squadron organisation
Squadron organisation
Hello everybody,
I have a crual doubt....
How many aircraft and pilot there are in a RAF squadron in WWII ??
Many thanks for your help...
I have a crual doubt....
How many aircraft and pilot there are in a RAF squadron in WWII ??
Many thanks for your help...
It varied. Also, I've found it surprisingly hard to find definitive information.
* Late war fighter sqns seem to have had ~18 a/c in order to sustain a full strength of 12 operational a/c.
* Medium bomber sqns (Mosquitoes, Bostons, Mitchells) seem to have been the same, although they sometimes sent more than 12 a/c on a raid (although more often they sent less than 12 - only rarely did they send exactly 12. Same for the fighters, incidentally - their preferred number on a sortie seems to have been 8)
* Heavy bombers (Lancaster, Halifax) seem to have had 20 a/c on strength, and sent ?as many as possible? on each raid
The following information is from ... hmm, I forget now*. Bear in mind that the listed number of a/c per sqn is I think total on strength, not the full operational strength. Incidentally, sqns also maintained excess pilots/crews for the same reason they had excess a/c.
Type of Squadron - Aircraft per sqdn. - Number of Sqdns. Available in U.K. 1st June 1944.
U.S. Eighth Air Force
Bomber heavy day 12 165
Fighter day 25 45
Photo recce 12 4
U.S. Ninth Air Force
Bomber medium 16 32
Bomber light 16 12
Fighter day 25 63
Fighter night 18 3
Fighter recce 12 4
Photo recce 12 4
Troop carrier 13 52
Royal Air Force
Fighter day 18 59
Fighter bomber 18 18
Fighter recce 18 8
Fighter night 18 22
Bomber light
(a) Bomber Command 20 6
(b) TAF 18 12
Photo Recce 18 8
Bomber heavy night 20 72½
38 Group (Troop Carrier) 46 10
Transport Command 30 5
* Although there is a variant of it in Ken Delve "D-Day: The Air Battle"(2004), page 31, showing slightly different information.
Edit: An entirely un-scientific sampling of the a/c letters used (as shown in "2nd TAF: vol 1" by Shores & Thomas) shows that all 26 letters were used by fighters, fighter-bombers, and medium bombers, with no particular weighting towards the head of the alphabet. That would tend to indicate that sqns had 26 a/c each, but I don't believe that to be true.
* Late war fighter sqns seem to have had ~18 a/c in order to sustain a full strength of 12 operational a/c.
* Medium bomber sqns (Mosquitoes, Bostons, Mitchells) seem to have been the same, although they sometimes sent more than 12 a/c on a raid (although more often they sent less than 12 - only rarely did they send exactly 12. Same for the fighters, incidentally - their preferred number on a sortie seems to have been 8)
* Heavy bombers (Lancaster, Halifax) seem to have had 20 a/c on strength, and sent ?as many as possible? on each raid
The following information is from ... hmm, I forget now*. Bear in mind that the listed number of a/c per sqn is I think total on strength, not the full operational strength. Incidentally, sqns also maintained excess pilots/crews for the same reason they had excess a/c.
Type of Squadron - Aircraft per sqdn. - Number of Sqdns. Available in U.K. 1st June 1944.
U.S. Eighth Air Force
Bomber heavy day 12 165
Fighter day 25 45
Photo recce 12 4
U.S. Ninth Air Force
Bomber medium 16 32
Bomber light 16 12
Fighter day 25 63
Fighter night 18 3
Fighter recce 12 4
Photo recce 12 4
Troop carrier 13 52
Royal Air Force
Fighter day 18 59
Fighter bomber 18 18
Fighter recce 18 8
Fighter night 18 22
Bomber light
(a) Bomber Command 20 6
(b) TAF 18 12
Photo Recce 18 8
Bomber heavy night 20 72½
38 Group (Troop Carrier) 46 10
Transport Command 30 5
* Although there is a variant of it in Ken Delve "D-Day: The Air Battle"(2004), page 31, showing slightly different information.
Edit: An entirely un-scientific sampling of the a/c letters used (as shown in "2nd TAF: vol 1" by Shores & Thomas) shows that all 26 letters were used by fighters, fighter-bombers, and medium bombers, with no particular weighting towards the head of the alphabet. That would tend to indicate that sqns had 26 a/c each, but I don't believe that to be true.
Last edited by JonS on 29 Dec 2006, 01:30, edited 1 time in total.
Well, you are still being horribly non-specific.
What type of sqn?
What time frame?
What theatre?
In general, for 2nd TAF 12 + 6 spares seems to have been the standard, but no doubt there were variations up and down for all sorts of reasons. According to the above table, only the tpt sqns should have had more than 20 a/c 'on the books'.
Also you missed one of the points I made, namely that it seems fairly rare for sqns to have sortied 12 a/c at the same time, even if the a/c were available. 4, 6, or 8 seems to have been much more common.
What type of sqn?
What time frame?
What theatre?
In general, for 2nd TAF 12 + 6 spares seems to have been the standard, but no doubt there were variations up and down for all sorts of reasons. According to the above table, only the tpt sqns should have had more than 20 a/c 'on the books'.
Also you missed one of the points I made, namely that it seems fairly rare for sqns to have sortied 12 a/c at the same time, even if the a/c were available. 4, 6, or 8 seems to have been much more common.
Excuse me JonS to be non specific...
I want to know how many a/c are in a RAF Fighter Sqn theoricly during Battle of England ? And how many pilots.. ?
If you can tell me the evolution of this number during the WWII... for a RAF Fighter Sqn....
So if I understand well, many of the sorties concern 6 to 10 a/c of the same Sqn... I have red thaht the Sqn should have 12 a/c airworthy ? Is it right ??
Many thanks JonS
I want to know how many a/c are in a RAF Fighter Sqn theoricly during Battle of England ? And how many pilots.. ?
If you can tell me the evolution of this number during the WWII... for a RAF Fighter Sqn....
So if I understand well, many of the sorties concern 6 to 10 a/c of the same Sqn... I have red thaht the Sqn should have 12 a/c airworthy ? Is it right ??
Many thanks JonS
eh, 1940. No idea. I have the number 12 in my head, but I think that's just a mantra repeated from somewhere - I have nothing to base it on. They did have spares though - but then again I don't know if spares were held at sqn level at that time. Have you had a look at Deighton's 'Fighter'? That would likely have that kind of info buried somewhere I expect.
I've been talking about 1944, NWE. Something I found today (relevant to that theatre and that time) is that 'maximum effort' - which is a phrase one hears fairly often - meant 18/18 a/c for the lt bmbr sqns, and 10/18 a/c for the fghtr sqns. Make of that what you will.
I've been talking about 1944, NWE. Something I found today (relevant to that theatre and that time) is that 'maximum effort' - which is a phrase one hears fairly often - meant 18/18 a/c for the lt bmbr sqns, and 10/18 a/c for the fghtr sqns. Make of that what you will.
Standard operational strength of a squadron in Fighter Command, as at 1 August 1939, was 1 x Squadron Leader, 2 x Flight Leaders and 9 x Flying/pilot Officers, 15 aircraft (12 operational with three held in reserve.
As of 1 July, 1940 pilot numbers were still the same ie 12, but aircraft allocated to a Squadron had increased to 18 (12 operational and six held in reserve).
As of 1 August, 1941 pilot numbers had been increased to 16 (12 required to be available for operations, 4 off duty but available within 24 hours)., aircraft remaining at 18 (for Squadrons based in England.
August 1941 operational strengths remained fairly static through to early 1944 (for English based Squadrons), when availability of aircraft and personnel saw Squadron numbers increase quite a bit personal to 18 and aircraft to 25.
Bear in mind though that the above were establishment figures only, and that there was a very large difference between theoritical and actual within Fighter Command Squadrons on a month to month basis. Also keep in mind that for distant Theatres eg the Mediterranean and Burma, Squadrons rarely maintained establishment figures.
As of 1 July, 1940 pilot numbers were still the same ie 12, but aircraft allocated to a Squadron had increased to 18 (12 operational and six held in reserve).
As of 1 August, 1941 pilot numbers had been increased to 16 (12 required to be available for operations, 4 off duty but available within 24 hours)., aircraft remaining at 18 (for Squadrons based in England.
August 1941 operational strengths remained fairly static through to early 1944 (for English based Squadrons), when availability of aircraft and personnel saw Squadron numbers increase quite a bit personal to 18 and aircraft to 25.
Bear in mind though that the above were establishment figures only, and that there was a very large difference between theoritical and actual within Fighter Command Squadrons on a month to month basis. Also keep in mind that for distant Theatres eg the Mediterranean and Burma, Squadrons rarely maintained establishment figures.