RFC Fighter Pilot Deaths in World War One

Pilot Fatalities in Training Exceeded those in Combat

Oct 3, 2009

By the end of the First World War it was clear that Royal Flying Corps training methods and airplanes had killed more pilots than combat with the Germans over France.

Five months before the end of the First World War, a question was tabled in the British House of Commons, to be answered by the Secretary of State. He was asked to explain the extraordinarily high death rate of fighter pilots in training before being sent to their Royal Flying Corps squadrons in France. The figures showed that 8,000 out of a total of 14,166 pilot deaths had occurred before those pilots ever flew against the enemy. In fact the British training system was killing more pilots than the Germans.

The Secretary of State's answer was indicative of the casual and lethal methods the RFC employed up to 1917. He attempted to blame the high number of training deaths on the pilots themselves and referred to their youthful lack of discipline as the primary cause. By comparison, the German figures for fighter pilot deaths in the First War while training was about one quarter of the British. It wasn't lack of discipline, but a lack of effective training plans, good instructors and reliable airplanes which were killing off new pilots.

RFC Pilot Recruiting

At the start of the First World War, the eventual role and expansion of the Royal Flying Corps was unforseen, and it was assumed that its job would be limited to reconnaissance and not combat. It was also thought that the necessary pilots for this new and small force would be supplied from the existing pool of men who already held private pilot licences. In 1914 the Royal Flying Corps had just under 200 pilots while there were about 850 private pilots in Great Britain.

This assumption also meant that Royal Flying Corps pilots were, "gentlemen", men with the sort of income which allowed for the purchase and maintenance of an airplane, so, almost entirely Public School boys of independent means. This also coloured the attitude of later recruiters who felt that men who took part in gentlemanly activities, horse-riding, sailing or racing motorcycles were naturally going to be good pilots. Little thought was given to testing physical or psychological suitability.

Fighter Pilot Training

Early pilot training was based on army routines. There was a great deal of drill, inspections and exercise, followed by long series of lectures at one of two schools of Military Aeronautics, before the cadet pilots were sent to training squadrons where they were finally exposed to airplanes. In contrast, both French and German fighter pilots began their training on airdromes, assessing flights and stripping down and rebuilding airplane engines and air-frames.

Once at their training squadrons the Royal Flying Corps pilots were faced with both the inherent danger of the stall-prone Farnham trainer and mediocre instructors, often men exhausted and unfit as a result of combat, or simply found to be incompetent at the front and sent home. This combination of poor airplanes, questionable instructors and a haphazard teaching system led to an almost daily series of crashes and deaths.

The Smith-Barry Training System

It wasn't until August 1917 that the situation was turned around, entirely due to the actions of Robert Smith-Barry, an ace fighter pilot who had seen the short lifespan of the new pilots who had survived the training process, once they met the Germans. Smith-Barry produced an instruction booklet based on his combat experience to be used by both students and instructors. Concentration was on teaching the types of evasive flying techniques they would need to survive over the front lines. Turns, dives, spins, landing without power and formation flying were practiced with the instructors gradually moving their students into close simulations of actual combat.

The Farnham trainer with its low speed and tendency to stall, was replaced by the Avro 504K, a two-seater which gave pilots experience in the handling and idiosyncrasies of the rotary-engined planes they would fly in France.

The new training regime had dramatic results, reducing the death rate in training and producing pilots who had a better chance of surviving in their operational squadrons than their unlucky predecessors.

Morley, R.W. "Earning their Wings, British Pilot Training 1912-18" University of Saskatchewan

The copyright of the article RFC Fighter Pilot Deaths in World War One in WW I History is owned by Murray Sager. Permission to republish RFC Fighter Pilot Deaths in World War One in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.