a question of balance

during ww1, a pilot had to achieve five kills to become an 'ace'. a german pilot was awarded the PLM. that number was increased to eight, then sixteen, and finally, thirty kills *before the medal was awarded. it had, because of the improvement of planes and tactics, etc., become easier to get a kill.
if the average lifespan of a pilot at the front was two weeks, how was it easier? where's the balance?

leon

[Volker_Nemsch]

Hello Leon!

My information is that at the end of the war the PLM was normally awarded after about 20 confirmed kills.

Up to the end of the war the German bureaucracy had many problems (continuous retreats, transport problems concerning documents and mail, lack of nearly everything). They were simply behind with confirming the kills.

This was the main cause that some of the late PLM winners added some more victories to their score before getting the Blue Max.

Best regards
Volker Nemsch

[Volker_Nemsch]

Sorry, I forgot the second part of the thread.

At the early days of WW1 the (oldfashioned) Prussians officers responsible for the new branch of army aviation considered it to be nearly impossible to bring down a plane with the help of another flying machine.

Flying itself was quite dangerous at this time (even without being shot at or trying to attack another plane). So they thought 5 kills would be worth the PLM.

In my opinion it was easier to have a confirmed kill in 1915/16 instead of 1918. The Fokker monoplane had no counterpart and there were no specialised tactics (the ability and knowlegde of the pilot was the most essential thing).

(I´m quite sure that there will be other opinions.) *

Best regards
Volker Nemsch

[rammjaeger]

Hi Leon,

what is your source for the average lifespan of a pilot of two weeks? I wonder a bit because the average life span of a plane was said to be 2 month by German officals in 1917 (includes writte-offs because of all causes).
Computing for the earlý time in the war shows similar results.
I am not so easy believing that a plane was surviving 4 crews.

Concerning the balance: Hm, I think it is harder to get victories in the early period because the of the lower fire power and rate, the more insufficient technological solutions for arms and aeroplanes, the lacking number of targets and the lack of flying in formations instead alone.

On the other hand in the late period you would meet more aircraft, have more air combats - and more often a chance to die.

VBR
Rammjaeger