Air tests...when did they occur?

[anglin.mj]

Hello,


I’ve be reading Guy Gibson’s book “Enemy Coast Ahead” and it made me aware of something that I had not noticed about my Dad’s operational time with 77 Sqn at Full Sutton.


I had always thought that crews did an air test each day of an Op on the aircraft assigned to them for that trip.


Yet when I review my Dad’s log book he completed an air test on only 6 of his 35 Ops.


Can any one tell me what the conventional wisdom was with regards to air tests? Were they only necessary if there had been a snag on the last flight that aircraft made?


Thanks.


Mike