Interesting WW II Aviation Statistics

[Changeup]

This is amazing. Notice that 14,000 aircraft were lost in the US ? That is one third of the airplanes lost outside of the US . And how about the most produced aircraft - the first two are Soviet aircraft with their country invaded and fighting for their lives.

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 theUS. 43,000 planes lost overseas, including 23,000  in combat. 14,000 lost in the continental US. 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.

Statistics  from Flight Journal magazine.

THE COST of DOING  BUSINESS ---- The staggering cost of war.

THE PRICE OF  VICTORY


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.

ON  AVERAGE
6600 American service men died per MONTH, during WWII (about 220 a  day).

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.
Nation           Aircraft     Average
USA              276,400      113
S Union         137,200      56
G Britain       108,500       45
Germany       109,000       45
Japan             76,300        31

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.

Lifting  10,000 airmen to deliver 2,000 tons of bombs.

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.

WWII  MOST-PRODUCED COMBAT AIRCRAFT
II-2 Stumovik         36,183
Yak 1, 3, 7,  9        31,000+
Bf 109                    30,480
Fw 190                   29,001
Spitfire/Seafire        20,351
B-24/PB4Y            18,482
Thunderbolt           15,686
Mustang               15,875
Ju  88                     15,000
Hurricane                14,533
P-40                       13,738
B-17                     12,731
Corsair                   12,571
Hellcat                    12,275
Pe-2                       11,400
P-38                      10,037
Zero                      10,449
B-25                     9,984
LaGG-5                 9,920
Avenger                 9,837
P-39                      9,584
Oscar                    5,919
Mosquito               7,780
Lancaster              7,377
He 111                  6,508
Halifax                   6,176
Bf 110                  6,150
LaGG-7                5,753
B-29                    3,970
Stirling                   2,383

Sources:
Rene Francillon, Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific  war; Cajus Bekker,
The Luftwaffe Diaries; Ray Wagner, American Combat Planes;  Wikipedia.

BALL PARK AVERAGE:
Chief of Staff to General,  “Hmmm; 331 men killed and 308 aircraft
destroyed. That’s 11 people and 10  planes per day.”
“Uh, yes, sir. It's still the ballpark  average.”
"I’d like to see an improvement in bomber  losses, those really add up."
“Were working on it, General. But it's  sad to think that 10 young men
alive today will be dead tomorrow.”
“You  know that’s the price of doing business. Now then, what about
the overseas and  combat losses?”

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. (Less than one accident in four resulted
in totaled aircraft,  however.)
Those  colossal losses cost the Axis powers nothing; not as much as
one 7.7 mm  bullet.

[Changeup]

It gets  worse.....
Almost 1,000 Army planes disappeared en route from the US to  foreign
climes. 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 August 1943, 60  B-17s were shot down among 376 losses. 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 Superfortress, 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 delivered more 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. (Note: Gone West
HNL QB Brewster Morgan (Morgan's Corner up in Nuuanu off of Old Pali
Road), a Honolulu boy and  a member of the 4th Fighter Group, told me
that they actually did stand down  one day to transition from the P47
to the P51. They were pissed that the old  groups still had the P47
[Brewster was with the Eagle Squadron in the  Spitfire......later in
the P47 when the US got into it in '42] and the newer groups coming
over from the US all had P-51s. Blakeslee finally convinced AF  to let
them convert by standing down just one day. An interesting side
note........Brewster was shot down over France in '44 and became a
POW.......his roommate?.......Douglas Bader.......top English ace with
two  wooden legs...Bader lost one of his legs when he bailed out and
was captured.......the Germans asked the Brits to send him another
leg......which  they did....BD).

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 ½ 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 air war 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.

[JUGgler]

 

       awesome, just awesome   


JUGgler

[Ardy123]

Lets just hope than in our life times, humanity can keep itself under control and not get into these atrocious messes.

Our little cartoon sandbox is fun, but we are talking about over 22 million people who died... mothers loosing their sons, children loosing their fathers, and countless millions of families who had nothing to do with the war other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time, being destroyed.

  all those on all sides who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
  for all the families who have been torn and destroyed by the conflict.
 <middle finger emoticon> to all the megalomaniacs around the world who have led our species to such suffering.

[007Rusty]

                                

[Pigslilspaz]

Lets just hope than in our life times, humanity can keep itself under control and not get into these atrocious messes.

Our little cartoon sandbox is fun, but we are talking about over 22 million people who died... mothers loosing their sons, children loosing their fathers, and countless millions of families who had nothing to do with the war other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time, being destroyed.

  all those on all sides who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
  for all the families who have been torn and destroyed by the conflict.
 <middle finger emoticon> to all the megalomaniacs around the world who have led our species to such suffering.

couldn't of said it any better myself, all points included.

[Wiley]

Well put, Ardy.  Hard to envision the scale it happened on, isn't it?

  To all who served and were affected.

Wiley.

[Zoney]

It is true that the urgencies of war inspires invention, however, if we were to focus our efforts instead to , as an example , space travel and extra-terrestial colonization, my grandson might have been born on mars.

[oakranger]

What do they mean by this?

299,230  aircraft accepted, 1940-1945.
808,471 aircraft engines accepted,  1940-1945.
799,972 propellers accepted, 1940-1945.

[Yossarian]

Thanks for those, Changeup!

And <S> Ardy.

[Rolex]

What do they mean by this?

299,230  aircraft accepted, 1940-1945.
808,471 aircraft engines accepted,  1940-1945.
799,972 propellers accepted, 1940-1945.

It's how many the government took delivery of from the company that manufactured it. Not all manufactured were accepted, for a variety of reasons, e.g. quality or performance not meeting the spec, no longer needed, company test product (destructible or non-destructible testing), political reasons, etc.

[Rolex]

database burp

[Changeup]

The loss of life is staggering...visions of Saving Private Ryan become a moral imperative for families.  7.9 MILLION BOMBS dropped in 2 years in both theaters...the destruction is inconceivable.

Say there were ET's watching us from 1939 to 1955...boy we humans brought new meaning to the words:

Dweeb, scorepotato, noob (to the universe), picker, etc, etc etc.

For those who have family that served (me...very, very proud) it is up to us to record what they experienced and personally hand that information to our kids...whatever their age.  I am lucky.  Both of my grandfathers have been interviewed, one of them tirelessly, over the years and my Dad kept all of the stuff.  My son and daughter owe them...as do I.  There is no substitute for the motivation of a debt for those with moral responsibility.  900 of these men and women are dying per day (VA census statistics) and when they are gone, they cannot come back.

I love this game because I wish I was as good a man as my Grandpa F (Luke Field Instructor Pilot in the P-40 series - 1942 and 51 Bravo driver 43-44) and my Grandpa S (B-25 driver - Pacific Island Hop, 1942-43, 44-45 B-25H) and every now and then in this ridiculous little game, HTC gives me a tiny glimpse of what it might have been like...adrenaline, sweat, and a victory....or mostly, a defeat.

One stat I found later for you Lusche kinda-guys....131 German pilots were shot down more than 5 times!!!...don't try that at home guys...or I guess you can here.

 

[oakranger]

It's how many the government took delivery of from the company that manufactured it. Not all manufactured were accepted, for a variety of reasons, e.g. quality or performance not meeting the spec, no longer needed, company test product (destructible or non-destructible testing), political reasons, etc.

Interesting, thanks. 

[SQUAT!]

1 number don't add up. Everything i have read on the subject says the 109 is the most massively produced fighter in history with over 35,000 made. You state 30,000. Now are only counting how many saw combat or were shot down? I will have to read up on the others but i'm farely sure there were more 109s then yaks or il2's