The loss of 900 crew will be felt but I don't think by that much. Remember in the RLM for many there first experience was Poland and not all of them as well as that was mostly Luft 1 and 4 pilots. So most of the pilots got there first war experience since May 1940. Also at this point in the war the 5 Lufts were training on average 600 pilots per month. That sounds like a lot but that broke down usually into 200 single pilot aircraft and 200 multi piloted aircraft or 200 fighter and 200 bombers. The RAF at the same time was struggling to do 300 per month, hence the Commonwealth training program. Will it hurt the RLM , a little, will it be felt, I don't think so other than it will slow the time the RLM can get back to full strength.

As for the training program, yes it sounds ambitious but so did the Commonwealth training program, which actually trained more pilots. They both sound very similar. Build over 100 fields and facilities for training of pilots, navigators, gunners ... all the way down to armourers and mechanics. Classes were to be 3 to 5 months in length depending on what you were doing. The fields were also to be depots where excess planes could be stored and serviced ( this was different). Also planes were to be brought from the front and taken here for upgrading or bringing back up to useful serviceability by those training mechanics. The big thing is the infastructure. If its setup this will allow a system that could be expanded far quicker than the hodge podge the Lufts used. Also remember the idea was to take the training facilitities and instructors the RLM already had and integrate it into this system as well. Also the pilots/instructors were to be drawn from the system from Late August 1940 to Feb 1941.

Russ / Roller007