Original Message

is the average helicopter pilot from the Vietnam era had more duration than WWII pilots, since we're talking apples to apples.

We did inter service pilot swaps with the USAF guys.  The helicopter guys had a blast, every single USAF pilot who did a ride-a-long with us (Army) figured an angle to get dropped off where they could find a way back to their base, and that usually happened after the first sector.

Some pilots were real, and they were real combat pilots.