Training for Combat

Learning Before It Mattered

They ran us through it again and again until the motions stopped feeling like choices. Where to look. What to grab. When to wait. Someone always said, “You won’t have time to think,” and nobody argued. By the end, your hands knew things your head hadn’t caught up to yet.

Training was where the air war truly began. Long before crews flew operational missions, they were prepared for conditions they hoped never to face—engine failures, navigation errors, combat damage, and the possibility of being forced down far from home.

The goal was not mastery in comfort, but competence under pressure.

Flight and Crew Training

Airmen trained as individuals and as crews. Pilots learned to handle aircraft at the edge of performance. Navigators practiced long-distance plotting under simulated weather conditions. Gunners trained to recognize aircraft silhouettes in seconds and react without hesitation.

Crew coordination was emphasized early. Communication procedures, emergency responses, and division of responsibility were practiced until they became instinctive.

Emergency Procedures

Training assumed that something would eventually go wrong. Crews drilled for:

engine failures
fires on board
loss of oxygen
structural damage
bailout procedures

These exercises were conducted plainly and repeatedly. The expectation was not that training would remove danger, but that it would reduce hesitation when time mattered most.

Survival Instruction

Depending on theater, crews received instruction tailored to the environment they would fly over. This included:

open-ocean survival
cold-weather exposure
desert and jungle conditions
basic navigation on the ground

Survival kits were issued and reviewed item by item. Crews learned what each piece was for—and what it could not do.

Mental Preparation

Combat training also addressed endurance. Long missions, uncertainty, and repeated exposure to danger required focus and restraint. Crews learned to rely on routine, discipline, and procedure to manage fear without confronting it directly.

Training emphasized doing the job first and processing the experience later.

From Training to Reality

No amount of preparation could fully replicate combat. Still, training provided a foundation—habits, expectations, and shared language—that crews carried with them into their first missions.

When those moments arrived, what had been practiced quietly on the ground became essential in the air.

Continue Through WWII

Survival Kits & Bailouts
Escape & Evasion
Enduring Cold, Fatigue & Fear
The Air War
Reconnaissance
Winning WWII