which generation of fighter pilots had the worst experience?
Vietnam. At least Korean fighter pilot vets ended up working for NASA or as Airforce test pilots after
>>18509870What are you talking about retard? Nam pilots also did those things.
>>18509867WW1 i guess? the rate of pilot deaths was horrendous since powered flight was only around a decade old and they had to go back to the 1920s which was crummy everywhere outside America.
>trench warfare was so bad that people volunteered for the airforce in hopes of a faster deathbrutal
>>18509867In terms of casualties, probably WWII bomber crews. Other than that it's arguably the best profession in the military since air force in general is a very cozy branch.
>>18509907Yep. Average life expectancy of three weeks IIRC.
>>18509867The World War niggas I guess.In WW1 flight was literally in its infancy and you had dudes riding practically wood & canvas flying bicycles & fought other flying bicycles with no chute, no comms, no instruments, and fully exposed to the elements.In WW2 aircraft tech matured but so did anti-air weapons. In the 7-4 years of the war there were new fucking air frames, new fucking weapons, new fucking strategies that came out every goddamn year/month to keep up with. Air Battles mirrored those on the ground: with both sides sending hundreds of pilots up in the air to bomb/intercept/escort the shit out of massive formations, with their casualties racking up to the thousands.
>>18509978it's also the hardest one to get into since you actually need an education
>>18509985WWII was only crappy to be a fighter pilot in if you were either flying for the Allies in the first half of the war or the Axis in the second half. 'twas shitty to be a Hurricane pilot over Dover in 1940 or a malaria-riddled American P400/P40 pilot in Southeast Asia in 1941. If you were a German or Japanese fighter pilot farming China and Benelux's shoddy air forces it wasn't too bad at allAfter 1942, it was a nonstop meat-grinder for the Axis and there were more than a few Brit Commonwealth/US Spitfire/Mustang/Thunderbolt jockeys who either found it tolerable or actually enjoyed the war after that point.If you were a Soviet pilot it was just bad from beginning to end since they would cram every new flight sgt. into a fighter cockpit with about 30 hours of flight experience each up until 1945.
