The Battle of Britain Five Months That Changed History, May—October 1940 by James Holland (z-lib.org).epub

posted to Mordyck and he and the two other new boys were told to remain
in Beaumont-le-Roger. Some new barrack blocks needed building and it
was decided that with the shortage of aircraft they would be better off
helping with that task than sitting around not flying at Mordyck.
But just as the new pilots arriving at Fighter Command squadrons were
horribly green, so too were the fresh intake to reach German fighter units.
Rudi was typical of the new breed of wartime-trained pilots being sent to
the front. Having been accepted into the Luftwaffe in December 1938, Rudi
had not then begun his basic training until April 1939, but even then,
because of the shortage of flying training schools, he had been sent to a
civilian Reichssportfliegerschule near Bielefeld. He thoroughly enjoyed it,
especially the relaxed civilian environment, but having completed a basic
training that included around sixty bumps and circuits by the end of August,
he was told that, for the time being, there were no more places available at
the official Luftwaffe training schools. Instead, he and the others on his
course were packed off to do basic military training instead. Not until the
beginning of January was he sent to do his A/B training. Then, on 14 May,
having been awarded his wings, Rudi was finally sent to complete his
fighter pilot training. After eight weeks, in which he flew the Me 109 for
the first time and did some clay pigeon shooting, he was sent to the
Ergänzungsjagdgruppe – the equivalent of the British OTU – in Merseburg,
where he flew the Me 109, practising bumps and starts, and carried out a
tiny amount of air-to-ground gunnery on fixed targets. It was no better than
the RAF gunnery training.
Certainly, Dolfo Galland, new Geschwaderkommodore at JG 26, was
concerned at the level of training of the new pilots he was getting. As in
England, most were undercooked but, such were the demands on his
Geschwader, he did not feel he had the aircraft or time to bring their
training up to speed. Nor did he want to send them over to England in the
hope that they would live long enough to learn on the hoof. When
Feldmarschall Milch visited him on 22 August, Dolfo pleaded for at least
thirty more experienced officer pilots. Milch promised to do what he could,
but a gift of a box of Brazil cigars was the best that he could do in the
immediate term, and a week later the pilot and aircraft shortages were
worse than ever. On 31 August, Dolfo only just managed to get enough
aircraft in the air for two missions and one free hunt over England. Later in
the day, he was rung up by Jafü 2 asking for a previously unscheduled