The
US lost 14,903 pilots, aircrew and support personnel plus 13,873
airplanes --- inside the continental United States. There were 52,651
aircraft accidents (6,039 involving fatalities) in 45 months. Average
1,170 aircraft accidents per month---- nearly 40 a day.
It gets worse.....
Almost 1,000 planes disappeared en route from the US to foreign
climes. But 43,581 aircraft were lost overseas including 22,948
on
combat missions (18,418 in Europe ) and 20,633 due to non-combat causes
overseas.
In a single 376 plane raid in August 1943, 60 B-17s were shot down.
That was a 16 percent loss rate and meant 600 empty bunks in England.
In 1942-43, it was statistically impossible for bomber crews to
complete the intended 25-mission tour in Europe .
In
1942-43, it was statistically impossible for bomber crews to complete
the intended 25-mission tour in Europe .
Pacific theatre losses were far less (4,530 in combat) owing to smaller
forces committed. The B-29 mission against Tokyo on May 25, 1945, cost
26 Superfortresses, 5.6 percent of the 464 dispatched from the
Marianas .
On average, 6,600 American servicemen died per month during WWII,
about 220 a day. Over 40,000 airmen were killed in combat and another
18,000 wounded. Some 12,000 missing men were declared dead, including
those "liberated" by the Soviets but never returned. More than 41,000
were captured. Half of the 5,400 held by the Japanese died in
captivity, compared with one-tenth in German hands. Total combat
casualties were 121,867.
The US forces peak strength was in 1944 with 2,372,000 personnel,
nearly twice the previous year's figure.
Losses were huge---but so were production totals. From 1941 through
1945, American industry delivered more than 276,000 military aircraft.
That was not only for US Army, Navy and Marine Corps, but also for
allies as diverse as Britain, Australia , China and Russia
.
With
the arrival of new aircraft, many units transitioned in combat. The
attitude was, "They all have a stick and a throttle. Go fly `em." When
the famed 4th Fighter Group converted from P-47s to P-51s in Feb 44,
there was no time to stand down for an orderly transition. The Group
commander, Col. DonaldBlakeslee, said, "You can learn to fly 51s on the
way to the target".
Our enemies took massive losses. Through much of 1944, the Luftwaffe
sustained hemorrhaging of 25% of aircrews and 40 planes a month.
Experience Level:
Uncle Sam sent many men to war with minimum training. Some fighter
pilots entered combat in 1942 with less than 1 hour in their assigned
aircraft.. The 357th Fighter Group (The Yoxford Boys) went to England
in late 1943 having trained on P-39s, then flew Mustangs. They never
saw a Mustang until the first combat mission.
With the arrival of new aircraft, many units transitioned in combat.
The attitude was, "They all have a stick and a throttle. Go fly `em."
When the famed 4th Fighter Group converted from P-47s to P-51s in Feb
44, there was no time to stand down for an orderly transition. The
Group commander, Col. DonaldBlakeslee, said, "You can learn
to fly
51s on the way to the target".
A future P-47 ace said, "I was sent to England to die." Many
bomber
crews were still learning their trade. Of Jimmy Doolittle's 15 pilots
on the April 1942 Tokyo raid, only five had won their wings
before
1941. All but one of the 16 co-pilots were less than a year out of
flight school.
In WW2, safety took a back seat to combat. The AAF's worst
accident
rate was recorded by the A-36 Invader version of the P-51: a staggering
274 accidents per 100,000 flying hours. Next worst were the
P-39 at
245, the P-40 at 188, and the P-38 at 139. All were Allison
powered.
Bomber wrecks were fewer but more expensive. The B-17 and B-24 averaged
30 and 35 accidents per 100,000 flight hours respectively-- a horrific
figure considering that from 1980 to 2000 the Air Force's major mishap
rate was less than 2.
The B-29 was even worse at 40 per 100,000 hours; the world's most
sophisticated, most capable and most expensive bomber was too urgently
needed to be able to stand down for mere safety reasons.
(Compare: when a $2.1 billion B-2 crashed in 2008, the Air Force
declared a two-month "safety pause").
The B-29 was no better for maintenance. Although the R3350 was known as
a complicated, troublesome power-plant, only half the mechanics had
previous experience with it.
Navigators:
Perhaps the greatest success story concerned Navigators. The Army
graduated some 50,000 during WW2.
Many had never flown out of sight of land before leaving "Uncle Sugar"
for a war zone. Yet they found their way across oceans and continents
without getting lost or running out of fuel - a tribute to the AAF's
training.
At its height in mid-1944, the USAAF had 2.6 million people and nearly
80,000 aircraft of all types.
Today the US Air Force employs 327,000 active personnel (plus 170,000
civilians) with 5,500+ manned and perhaps 200 unmanned aircraft. That's
about 12% of the manpower and 7% of the airplanes of the WW2 peak.
SUMMATION:
Another war like that of 1939-45 is doubtful, as fighters and bombers
have given way to helicopters and remotely-controlled drones, eg. over
Afghanistan and Iraq. But within our living memory, men left the earth
in 1,000-plane formations and fought major battles five miles high,
leaving a legacy that remains timeless.
Via Cuzzin Ricky
