Can anyone point me to some source material that would tell you how long it would take to launch a particular aircraft? In other words how long it would take from the time I climbed into my Spitfire Mk. VIII to the time I was able to take off.
Most units on both side used alarm-units, planes already wamed-up by ground-crews, ready for interceptions.
In the Battle Of Britain the RAF had three readiness states: 'Available' (20 minutes) - 'at readiness' (5 minutes) and 'stand-by' (2 minutes).At 'stand-by' they had only two minutes to get airborne. Ground crew would start the engines as the pilots ran to their aircraft. When they got there the pilots would just jump in and go.