01 / prediction

24 May 2025

You would have 40 to 45 pilots to service 16 in the air and similar number of aircraft, which means you’re not overusing these guys. And what would happen by that stage of the war, by 1943, a young fighter pilot coming to a Thunderbolt Squadron or a Mustang Squadron, for example, at the end of 1943, beginning of 1944, he’d have 350 hours of consecutive flying because you can train in America, in Florida or California or Texas or wherever, you can process many, many more people because the training is much more intense because you’ve got clear skies.

“You would have 40 to 45 pilots to service 16 in the air and similar number of aircraft, which means you’re not overusing these guys. And what would happen by that stage of the war, by 1943, a young fighter pilot coming to a Thunderbolt Squadron or a Mustang Squadron, for example, at the end of 1943, beginning of 1944, he’d have 350 hours of consecutive flying because you can train in America, in Florida or California or Texas or wherever, you can process many, many more people because the training is much more intense because you’ve got clear skies.”

Speaker: James Holland
Episode: #470 – James Holland: World War II, Hitler, Churchill, Stalin & Biggest Battles
Publisher: Lex Fridman Podcast

James Holland

What James said.

I think there are so many lessons from World War II that could have been brought into the history of the last 30 years, which weren’t, such as if you decapitate an incredibly strong leader, you get a power vacuum.