[Vin]

There is a logic to it. Naturally the pilot improves with experience. More than that, though, it must have taken considerable skill to be able to shoot down another aircraft. The pilot would have a very unstable gun platform. He would have to concentrate fiercely just to keep the aircraft in the sky and under control let alone focus on the finer points of gunnery. It would only be when the difficulties of flying became second nature and automatic that the pilot could concentrate sufficiently on marksmanship to be consistently successful. The surprise is not the fact of, but the length of, the quite long apprenticeship some very successful pilots, like Coppens, appear to have served.


Vin