#4495791 - 11/02/19 11:07 PM
Re: Pilot rest/rotation in the RFC?
[Re: DukeIronHand]
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Joined: May 2012
Posts: 4,879
RAF_Louvert
BOC President; Pilot Extraordinaire; Humble Man
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BOC President; Pilot Extraordinaire; Humble Man
Senior Member
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 4,879
L'Etoile du Nord
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. Well then I'll jump in. I have never come across any official guidelines regarding lengths of pilot tours, and have seen mention made in some sources that none likely existed during WWI. Generally, an RFC/RNAS pilot could expect to serve a minimum of three months at the front before getting his first leave, which could be from 7 to 14 days, (more often than not on the short end of this span). After six months it was fairly typical for the pilot to then have an extended leave of a month or more. Again, this is only generally speaking, and there are numerous examples of pilots going far longer between breaks, sometimes upwards of ten months. Once they were rotated back to HE they could be there for anywhere from a few weeks to many months, and on some occasions they were never sent back to the front. As to returning a pilot to his old squadron, while it was not official policy as far as I know, it was the general practice not to. I do recall reading that if a pilot was captured and held for an extended period before he managed to escape back to the friendly side, it was policy not to return him to his old squadron. One thing that was noticed by British HQ was a statistical increase in the number of pilots being killed shortly after returning to the front after extended leaves, presumably because they had lost their "edge" while away from the fighting. This may have been one of the reasons the Brass Hats were hesitant to give pilots leaves of more than a few days. Of course it's far more likely it was due to the constant shortage of qualified combat pilots. .
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#4499366 - 12/06/19 09:22 PM
Re: Pilot rest/rotation in the RFC?
[Re: Creaghorn]
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Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 49
stufer
Junior Member
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Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 49
Nottingham, England
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Usually in WOFF when surviving long enough you will be granted 2 days leave every couple missions. At least you have a button to ask for it, but it can also get denied. You can then ask a day later again etc. When flying longer without leave you have the option to ask for 5 days.
Rotation or HE etc. probably also depends on the exhaustion or how good one is, like with Albert Ball. One very successful pilot can get ordered back home to get him out of danger like the tried with Richthofen, Dallas etc.. Often they become instructors. That also explains the lack of hours of pupils before the first solo, because one war exhausted instructor who survived so much and for so long, doesn't want to get killed by a hamfisted novie wannabe pilot.
Ingame I simulate rotation in an out for couple month by transferring to a HD unit or by simply jumping forward several months, and then transferring to another squadron or maybe even the same. Hello all I'm just getting back into this game after a while away from it... got the latest Platinum edition and all patched up. Just keeps getting better and better. The game oozes immersion throughout and I'm quite hooked. I'm having a blast flying early BE2c's in 1915 and actually managing to survive for longer than I used to! So I've started thinking about simulating this kind of rotation to different squadrons with periods of leave etc... I'm interested in what Creaghorn suggests here in transferring to an HD squadron for a while but I can't see how to do it. When I go to the intel screen and select the transfer button. It only gives me a choice of picking squadrons in Flanders, the Marne, Alsace and Verdun. I can't see how to select a squadron in England. Is it possible to do this and if so, how? Perhaps it only becomes available later in the war? Many thanks, Stu.
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#4499374 - 12/06/19 10:54 PM
Re: Pilot rest/rotation in the RFC?
[Re: DukeIronHand]
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Joined: May 2012
Posts: 4,879
RAF_Louvert
BOC President; Pilot Extraordinaire; Humble Man
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BOC President; Pilot Extraordinaire; Humble Man
Senior Member
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 4,879
L'Etoile du Nord
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Hello Stu,
Welcome back to the WOFF skies. As you are already discovering PE is yet another upgrade gem to our favorite WWI combat flight sim. As for transferring to Home Establishment, unfortunately the only way to currently do that is to start your pilot anew in your HD Squadron of choice, basically acting as HQ and giving yourself a transfer back to Blighty. Then, when you've decided your man has spent enough time protecting the home front you can advance the previous incarnation of your pilot ahead and either leave him in his current outfit in France or transfer him to a new one. Fingers crossed someday this will all be incorporated into a future WOFF upgrade.
Cheers Stu, and watch your six!
Lou
Three RFC Brass Hats were strolling down a street in London. Two walked into a bar, the third one ducked._________________________________________________________________________ Former Cold War Warrior, USAF Security Service 1974-1978, E-4, Morse Systems Intercept, England, Europe, and points above. "pippy-pahpah-pippy pah-pip-pah"
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