I'm curious about what kind of people would be accepted into the RAF as a pilot during the second world war. Would they be from the very educated upper middle classes as films and stereotypes depict, or would they come from all kinds of backgrounds?
Secondly, what was the training process like? I know that for modern fighter pilots they can train for up to 4 years! Obviously time was of the essence during the war and the aircraft were pretty basic in comparison.
I've picked post Battle of Britain because I imagined demand wouldn't have been as high and so more time could be spent on picking the best recruits.
Thanks!
I can partially answer your question, but I think other people with more knowledge would be able to give you a little more information.
Initially, the RAF was very much an "an old boys club" and crew were expected to have attended public schools such as Eton. Although losses changed this very quickly and air crew were accepted from all backgrounds. (I would be speculating if I were to provide a time frame for this to have occurred.)
During the war, the Empire Air Training Scheme was producing pilots over about 2 years before crews would be shipped back to Europe for operational training.
After the Battle of Britain, pilots were channeled into bomber training because of the high loss rates and those rates increased for most of the war.
I hope that is of some use to you. Unfortunately, I am not as well read on fighter pilot training, but books like Lancaster Men and Battle order 204 might give you some insight into aircrew training (albeit for bomber command aircrew).
I think the book "A Question of Honor" goes into this a little bit in terms of prewar vs during and subsequent to the Battle of Britain