World War 2 statistics and
photos.
I have
always known that aircrew had the highest fatality rate but the loss rate (and
cost of war) detailed below is absolutely horrific.
If you live
for facts and statistics, this is just for you...
No matter
how one looks at it, these are incredible statistics. Aside from the figures on
aircraft, consider this statement from the article: On average 6600
American service men died per MONTH, during WWII (about 220 a day).
• Most Americans who were not adults
during WWII have no understanding of the magnitude of it. This
listing of some of the aircraft facts gives a bit of insight to it.
•
276,000 aircraft manufactured in the US .
• 43,000 planes lost
overseas, including 23,000 in combat.
• 14,000 lost in the continental
U.S.
The US
civilian population maintained a dedicated effort for four years, many
working long hours seven days per week and often also volunteering for
other work. WWII was the largest human effort in
history.
More amazing
facts at the end of the photos...
WWII MOST-PRODUCED
COMBAT AIRCRAFT
Ilyushin
IL-2
Sturmovik
36,183
Yakolev Yak-1,-3,-7, -9
31,000+
Messerschmitt
Bf-109
30,480
Supermarine
Spitfire/Seafire
20,351
Convair B-24/PB4Y
Liberator/Privateer 18,482
Republic
P-47
Thunderbolt
15,686
North
American P-51
Mustang
15,875
Hawker
Hurricane
14,533
Curtiss
P-40
Warhawk
13,738
Boeing
B-17 Flying
Fortress
12,731
Vought
F4U
Corsair
12,571
Grumman
F6F
Hellcat
12,275
Lockheed
P-38
Lightning
10,037
Mitsubishi
A6M
Zero
10,449
North
American B-25
Mitchell
9,984
Note: The
LaGG-5 was produced with both water-cooled (top) and
air-cooled (bottom) engines.
Grumman
TBM
Avenger
9,837
Bell
P-39
Airacobra
9,584
Nakajima
Ki-43
Oscar
5,919
DeHavilland
Mosquito
7,780
Handley-Page
Halifax
6,176
Messerschmitt
Bf-110
6,150
Boeing
B-29
Superfortress
3,970
Statistics from
Flight Journal magazine.
THE COST of DOING
BUSINESS
---- The staggering cost of war.
THE PRICE
OF VICTORY (cost of an aircraft in WWII
dollars):
B-17
$204,370. P-40
$44,892.
B-24
$215,516. P-47
$85,578.
B-25
$142,194. P-51
$51,572.
B-26
$192,426. C-47
$88,574.
B-29
$605,360. PT-17
$15,052.
P-38
$97,147. AT-6
$22,952.
PLANES
A DAY WORLDWIDE
From Germany
's invasion of Poland Sept.. 1, 1939 and ending with Japan 's surrender
Sept. 2, 1945 --- 2,433 days. From 1942 onward, America averaged 170
planes lost a day.
How many is
a 1,000 planes? B-17 production (12,731) wingtip to wingtip
would extend 250 miles. 1,000 B-17s carried 2.5 million gallons of
high octane fuel and required 10,000 airmen to fly and fight
them.
THE
NUMBERS GAME
9.7
billion gallons of gasoline consumed, 1942-1945.
107.8
million hours flown, 1943-1945.
459.7
billion rounds of aircraft ammo fired overseas,
1942-1945.
7.9
million bombs dropped overseas, 1943-1945.
2.3
million combat sorties, 1941-1945 (one sortie = one
takeoff).
299,230
aircraft accepted, 1940-1945.
808,471
aircraft engines accepted, 1940-1945.
799,972 propellers accepted, 1940-1945.
Sources: Rene Francillon, Japanese
Aircraft of the Pacific war; Cajus Bekker, The Luftwaffe Diaries;
Ray Wagner, American Combat Planes; Wikipedia.
According to
the AAF Statistical Digest, in less than four years (December 1941- August
1945), the US Army Air Forces lost 14,903 pilots, aircrew and assorted
personnel plus 13,873 airplanes --- inside the continental United States .
They were the result of 52,651 aircraft accidents (6,039 involving
fatalities) in 45 months.
Think
about those numbers. They average 1,170 aircraft accidents per month----
nearly 40 a day. (However, less than one accident in four resulted
in total loss of the aircraft)
It gets
worse...
Almost 1,000 Army planes
disappeared en route from the US to foreign locations. But an
eye-watering 43,581 aircraft were lost overseas including 22,948 on combat
missions (18,418 against the Western Axis) and 20,633 attributed 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 a 25-mission
tour in Europe .
Pacific
theatre losses were far less (4,530 in combat) owing to smaller
forces committed.. The worst 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. By
the end of the war, over 40,000 airmen were killed in combat theatres and
another 18,000 wounded. Some 12,000 missing men were declared dead,
including a number "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 pegged at 121,867.
US manpower
made up the deficit. The AAF's peak strength was reached in 1944
with 2,372,000 personnel, nearly twice the previous year's
figure.
The losses
were huge---but so were production totals. From 1941 through 1945,
American industry deliveredmore than 276,000 military aircraft. That
number was enough not only for US Army, Navy and Marine Corps, but for allies as
diverse as Britain, Australia, China and Russia. In fact, from 1943
onward, America produced more planes than Britain and Russia combined. And
more than Germany and Japan together 1941-45.
However, our enemies took
massive losses. Through much of 1944, the Luftwaffe sustained uncontrolled
hemorrhaging, reaching 25 percent of aircrews and 40 planes a month. And
in late 1944 into 1945, nearly half the pilots in Japanese squadrons had
flown fewer than 200 hours. The disparity of two years before had been
completely reversed.
Experience
Level:
Uncle Sam sent many of his sons to
war with absolute minimums of training. Some fighter pilots entered combat in
1942 with less than one hour in their assigned aircraft.
The
357th Fighter Group (often known as The Yoxford Boys) went to England in
late 1943 having trained on P-39s. The group never saw a Mustang
until shortly before its first combat mission.
A high-time
P-51 pilot had 30 hours in type. Many had fewer than five hours.
Some had one hour.
With arrival
of new aircraft, many combat 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 February 1944, there was no
time to stand down for an orderly transition.
The Group
commander, Col. Donald Blakeslee, 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." He was not
alone.
Some fighter
pilots tucked their wheels in the well on their first combat mission with one
previous flight in the aircraft. Meanwhile, 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 copilots were less than a year out of flight
school..
In WWII
flying 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; the world's most sophisticated, most capable and most
expensive bomber was too urgently needed to stand down for mere safety reasons..
The AAF set a reasonably high standard for B-29 pilots, but the desired figures
were seldom attained.
The original
cadre of the 58th Bomb Wing was to have 400 hours of multi-engine time,
but there were not enough experienced pilots to meet the criterion.
Only ten percent had overseas experience. Conversely, when a $2.1 billion
B-2 crashed in 2008, the Air Force initiated a two-month "safety pause"
rather than declare a "stand down", let alone grounding.
The B-29 was
no better for maintenance. Though the R3350 was known as a complicated,
troublesome power-plant, no more than half the mechanics had previous experience
with the Duplex Cyclone. But they made it work.
Navigators:
Perhaps the
greatest unsung success story of AAF training was Navigators.
The Army
graduated some 50,000 during the War. And many had never flown out of
sight of land before leaving "Uncle Sugar" for a war zone. Yet the huge
majority found their way across oceans and continents without getting lost or
running out of fuel --- a stirring tribute to the AAF's educational
establishments.
Cadet To Colonel:
It was
possible for a flying cadet at the time of Pearl Harbor to finish the war with
eagles on his shoulders. That was the record of John D. Landers, a
21-year-old Texan, who was commissioned a second lieutenant on December 12,
1941. He joined his combat squadron with 209 hours total flight time,
including 2 in P-40s. He finished the war as a full colonel, commanding an
8th Air Force Group --- at age 24.
As the
training pipeline filled up, however those low figures became exceptions.
By early
1944, the average AAF fighter pilot entering combat had logged at least 450
hours, usually including 250 hours in training. At the same time, many
captains and first lieutenants claimed over 600 hours.
FACT:
At its height in
mid-1944, the Army Air Forces 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.
The 2009
figures represent about 12 percent of the manpower and 7 percent of the
airplanes of the WWII peak.
IN
SUMMATION:
Whether there will ever be another
war like that experienced in 1940-45 is doubtful, as fighters and bombers have
given way to helicopters and remotely-controlled drones over Afghanistan and
Iraq . But within living memory, men left the earth in 1,000-plane
formations and fought major battles five miles high, leaving a legacy that
remains timeless.
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