Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aircraft and Vehicles => Topic started by: Buzzbait on March 26, 2001, 05:14:00 PM
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S! all
Here are some figures on Aircraft and Pilot losses for the Luftwaffe. They come from “Luftwaffe” by Williamson Murray, a British author. His sources for the losses were the actual German records, not Allied or Soviet claims. “Luftwaffe” is one of the best analysis of why the Germans lost the war in the air which I have come across. I have had to take the Charts and tables which he has provided, which means in some cases all the figures I would be interested in were not available.
Total German Operational Strength May 1940 (Operational strength is the aircraft actually ready to fly, not including aircraft on the books but in repair or depots)
Fighters--------1369
Others----------4029
Total-----------5398
Total German Aircraft losses due to enemy action May-September 1940 (Invasion of France and Battle of Britain)
Fighters----------871
Others-----------1442
Total------------2313
Total German Fighter Pilot casualties. (Casualties include Deaths, Serious Woundings, and Captures. Fighter Pilot casualties are to be differentiated from Aircraft losses which can be replaced)
May-June 1940 (Battle of France)
169
July-September 1940 (Battle of Britain)
521
You will notice the big increase in German Pilot Casualties during the Battle of Britain. This was due to the fact they were flying over hostile territory at extreme range.
Total German Aircraft losses due to enemy action October-December 1940 (Night Blitz of Britain)
Fighters------40
Bombers------140
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Total German Operational Strength January 1941
Fighters-------1339
Others---------3008
Total----------4347
Average German Operational Strength versus Soviet Union June-November 1941
Fighters-------738 (55% of Total Jan. Operational strength)
Other---------1724
Total---------2462 (57% of Total Jan. Operational strength)
Total German Aircraft Losses due to enemy action January-December 1941 (not including November, figures N/A)
Fighters-------868
Other---------1981
Total---------2849
Percentage of Total German Aircraft lost Monthly, All Fronts January-December 1941
January-----------2.6%
February----------3.6%
March-------------4.9%
April-------------7.2%
May---------------7.5%
June--------------11.6%
July--------------16.1%
August------------9.8%
September---------8.8%
October-----------7.7%
November----------6.5%
December----------7.1%
You can see from the above chart the German losses are quite small when their only active Front is the English Channel. Losses begin to rise in April with the Balkan Campaigns in Yugoslavia and Greece versus the British Expeditionary Forces there, as well as the commitment to North Africa with Rommel. The Germans had significant losses on Crete, especially in Transport and Bombers. With the invasion of the Soviet Union losses jump very significantly in the first few months. But after the Soviet airforce is to all intents destroyed, the losses begin to reduce again.
Percentage of Total German Fighter Aircraft lost Monthly, All Fronts January-December 1941
January----------2.1%
February---------3.6%
March------------4.7%
April------------6.4%
May--------------6.8%
June-------------14.2%
July-------------22.9%
August-----------13.4%
September--------12.6%
October----------6.0%
November---------N/A
December---------10.2%
This Chart shows the German Fighter losses with the invasion of the Soviet Union are proportionately a little higher than overall losses.
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German Operational Strength January 1942
Fighters--------1324
Other-----------3809
Total-----------5133
I do not have percentages of the Aircraft deployment by Front for 1942. However in November of 1941, Luftflotte 2, comprising approx. 600 aircraft was transferred to the Mediterranean to assist in the suppression of Malta.
German Monthly Aircraft Losses All Fronts January to May 1942.
January------------428
February-----------415
March--------------564
April--------------525
May----------------772
This Chart shows the heaviest losses begin March with the failed Counter-Offensive by the Soviets at Kharkov.
Total German Aircraft Losses January to May 1942
All Aircraft-------2704
Total German Monthly Aircraft Losses June to December 1942 by Front. All Aircraft
Month-----Eastern Front-----All other Fronts
June--------350-------------------299
July--------438-------------------386
August------436-------------------371
September---332-------------------206
October-----200-------------------324
November----224-------------------595
December----408-------------------366
This is my first Chart which shows the actual breakdown of losses by Front. You can see the losses on the Eastern Front are higher during the Summer ’42 offensive, but losses in the West are higher in October and November during the fighting at El Alamein and during the invasion of North Africa, “Torch”. Eastern Front losses then move ahead again during December when the foolishly ordered airlift to Stalingrad was at its height. There were significant Transport and Bomber losses at that time.
Total German Aircraft Losses June to December 1942 by Front
Eastern Front
All Aircraft--------2388
Other Fronts
All Aircraft--------2547
You can see from this, that the overall aircraft losses during the second half of ’42 begin to shift to the West.
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German Operational Aircraft Strength February 1943
Fighters---------1360
Others-----------4014
Total------------5374
Distribution of Authorized German Fighter Strength January 1943 (note this is Authorized strength or Paper strength, not Operational strength)
Eastern Front----------445
Mediterranean----------280
Northwest Europe------1045
From this you can see 74% of German Fighter strength is cocentrated against the Western Allies.
German Monthly Aircraft Losses in 1943 by Front. First number is total Aircraft losses/Second number is Fighter losses
Month----Eastern----Med.------NWest Europe
Jan.-----482--85----282-124----176-87
Feb.-----318--63----206-89-----182-77
March----314-100----308-140----256-140
April----238-67-----572-247----256-143
May------331-110----333-97-----331-183
June-----249-85-----235-131----313-157
July-----558-201----711-246----526-335
August---472-150----321-133----625-248
Sept.----338-99-----503-167----522-276
Oct.-----279-94-----285-92-----530-281
Nov.-----194-45-----180-54-----529-281
December---------Not Available
In January the German losses are slightly higher on the Eastern Front than both the Mediterranean and Northwest Europe combined. This reflects the continued attempted airlift to Stalingrad. But after that, losses versus the Western Allies become much more significant. Losses are very high during the close of the Tunisian Campaign, especially during the abortive attempted Air Supply phase. Even during the Kursk Offensive and subsequent Soviet Counter-Offensive, the losses are less than those suffered during the Sicily invasion. Meanwhile as the 8th Air Force Bombing Offensive begins in July of ’43, the German losses in Northwest Europe begin to climb till they are largest portion of all losses. Notice especially the higher proportion of Fighters lost in Northwest Europe.
Total Aircraft Losses in 1943 by Front (excluding December)
Eastern Front
Fighters-------1099
Total----------3773
Mediterranean Front
Fighters-------1520
Total----------3936
Northwest Europe Front
Fighters-------2208
Total----------4246
Total German Aircraft losses inflicted in 1943, Western Allies vs Soviet Union
Western Allies-----------8182
Soviet Union-------------3773
German Monthly Fighter Pilot Casualties January to December 1943
January-----------137
February----------115
March-------------155
April-------------206
May---------------266
June--------------246
July--------------330
August------------333
September---------343
October-----------339
November----------245
December----------252
Of these casualties, the majority have been inflicted by the Western Allies.
Total German Operational Strength January 1944
Fighters----------1561
Others------------5180
Total-------------6741
Distribution of Authorized German Fighter Strength January 1944
Eastern Front----------425
Mediterranean----------365
Northwest Europe------1650
You can see from this 82% of German Fighter Strength is concentrated against the Western Allies at the start of 1944.
Unfortunately Murray’s book does not include figures which show losses by Front during 1944. However educated guesses can easily be made.
Total Monthly German Aircraft Losses January-May 1944. First number is total Aircraft losses/Second number is Fighter losses.
January------------991-473
February--------------N/A
March-------------1770-985
April-----------------N/A
May---------------1882-831
You can see the monthly losses are much higher than in earlier years.
Monthly Percentage of Total German Aircraft Strength Lost January-June 1944
January----------14.7%
February---------20.5%
March------------25.6%
April------------28.2%
May--------------27.8%
June-------------22.7%
Monthly Percentage of Total German Fighter Strength Lost January-June 1944
January----------30.3%
February---------33.8%
March------------56.4%
April------------43%
May--------------50.4%
June-------------48.3%
Since 82% of the German Fighter strength is concentrated against the Western Allies, the overwhelming majority of these casualties are likely inflicted by British or U.S. Pilots.
German Fighter Pilot Casualties January to May 1944
January-----------292
February----------434
March-------------511
April-------------447
May---------------578
Compare these Pilot losses with the previous tables showing Pilot losses during 1940 and 1943. You can see the attrition has become enormous.
Distribution of Authorized German Fighter Strength July 1944
Eastern Front------------------475
Balkans (Mediterranean)---------65
Northwest Europe---------------835
Compare this table with the Authorized German Fighter Strength in January 1944. You can see the Eastern Front totals are much the same. But the strength facing the Western Allies has shrunk to 45% of what it was in January. This reflects the tremendous losses in the Battle for Germany.
Jagdgeschwader 26 Pilot Casualties by Year. (JG26 were based in France and Germany versus the Western Allies. Sometimes called the Abbeville Boys)
1939----------2
1940---------51
1941---------64
1942---------69
1943--------149
1944--------249
1945--------110
You can see from this table that during the years when JG26 was only facing short range Spitfires and ineffective British medium bombers, it could pick its time to fight or not to fight, and so casualties were very low. But with the advent of the B-17 daylight offensive, and the nessesity to intercept these destructive and accurate formations, casualties skyrocket.
Average Newly Operational Pilot Training Hours Flight Time
Number before slash indicates hours on low performance training aircraft. Number after slash indicates training hours on first line aircraft.
Period-------German-----British------U.S.
1939-
Sept.‘42----240+/80+----200+/40+------N/A
Oct 42-
June 43-----200+/40+----340+/75+----270+/70+
Jul 43-
June 44-----180+/20+----340+/80+---330+/130+
July 44-
End---------125+/15+----340+/90+---400+/150+
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S!
Couple other stats:
Total German Aircraft losses Jan.-June 1944
6259
Total German Fighter losses Jan.-June 1944
2855
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Hmmmm... Concerning the May-june losses, the Luftwaffe lost about 900 aircrafts shot down by the French (I mean aircrafts, not pilots), and a total of 1450 if you add the Dutch, British and Belgian victories. (mostly Dutch, they shot down 300 aircrafts, mainly Junkers 52)
Extra thing: Mölders was shot down by the French in june and he felt in french lines, so he was captured... unfortunately for the Allied, the armistice asked that all the Germans captured by the French had to be free.
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I'd say:
Hitler and Göring ! (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/biggrin.gif)
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Originally posted by janneh:
I'd say:
Hitler and Göring ! (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/biggrin.gif)
You don´t know how correct you are. Hitlers idiotic way of seeing the things prevented the Reichsverteidigung from being a real opponent for the 8th AAF. After the attacks on Hamburg 1943 all responsible commanders of the Luftwaffe - even Goering (!!) - said that the industry must be completely set up for mass production of fighters. Hitler instead asked for reprisal raids (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/rolleyes.gif) . At this time (due to the growing output of fighters and pilots) the Reichsverteidigung had the real chance of building up a descent defensive force, but this was prevented by Hitler.
Or the planes used in "Bodenplatte". Galland had ca 3000 fighters ready to be used in a major attack on one of the big raids when the waether allowed it. Instead the young pilots trained for attacking bombers were thrown into a jabo-mission and fell to AA guns and defending fighters...
Or the whole problem of the Me262. Imagine fighter units equipped with it in early 1944 when there were enough fuel and experienced fighter pilots left to fly it....
So the Allies and the Soviets only had to take the advantages presented by Hitler on a silver plate ...
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"Instead the young pilots trained for attacking bombers were thrown into a jabo-mission and fell to AA guns and defending fighters..."
Yep, they fell in their own flak.
German AA-Guns downed over 100 Luftwaffe fighters. AA-officers were not informed about the operation, Luftwaffe wanted to keep it secret.
Someone posted here about "lessers known facts about WWII". Was interesting reading.
If that all is true, tho (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/smile.gif)
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I'd say:
Hitler and Göring!
Yep, the two greatest traitors to the Luftwaffe.
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S!
Don't mean to denigrate the French and Belgian pilots, but the figures you quoted are their claims. And all sides overclaimed. (including the German) Usually it was by 150-200%. The figures I posted are from the Luftwaffe Staffel loss records.
The British overclaimed during the Battle of Britain by about 3-2. Meanwhile their intelligence officers were receiving the real Luftwaffe figures through their Ultra decoders which told them what really was the truth. The RAF still credited their pilots with their claims because it was good for morale, and because they didn't want to let the Germans know they could read their codes.
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Puh and i am glad they did it, or would u all like to wear little brown uniforms?
And go out and drill instead of hanging round infront of the screen and playing AH?