However, table no. 100 is available: Losses of All Types of Airplanes Overseas, By Theater and By Type of Loss: 1941 to 1945, and it shows a very clear picture of the level of USAAF involvement in the ETO:
Total losses in 1942: 133 aircraft.
Total losses in 1943 (Jun-Dec): 1,651 aircraft.
Total losses in 1944: 10,447 aircraft.
1944 is when the air war in the west gained a significance in the war... However, Germany had already lost in the east.
Table 2 -- Combat Groups Overseas, By Theater and By Type of Group: Dec 1941 to Aug 1945 lists the total number of heavy bombardment groups in both the ETO and MTO in August 1943 at 17. In 1943 a heavy bombardment group had a total complement of 294 officers and 1,487 enlisted men to fly and support 48 heavy bombers. That's a maximum of 816 bombers if all the groups are at full strength. In reality each group operated only between 20 and 30 bombers due to attrition. They also operated a total of 7 fighter groups with anywhere from two to four squadrons in each group. So a total of less than 1,000 aircraft capable of attacking Germany in both the ETO and MTO in August 1943.
On August 17, 1943 the 8th AAF threw their whole operational strength at Schweinfurth and Regensburg. A total of 376 bombers and 268 fighters.
Regensburg Task Force organization
Group / UK Base / Sent / Losses
96th / Snetterton Heath / 21 / 0
388th / Knettishall / 21 / 1
390th / Framlingham / 20 / 6
94th / Bury St. Edmunds / 21 / 1
385th / Great Ashfield / 21 / 3
95th / Horham / 21 / 4
100th / Thorpe Abbotts / 21 / 9
353rd Fighter Group / 37 P-47
56th Fighter Group / 50 P-47
Schweinfurt mission organization
Group / UK Base / Sent / Losses
91st / Bassingbourn / 18 / 7
101st Composite Group / 19 / 6
381st / Ridgewell / 20 / 9
351st / Polebrook / 21 / 1
306th Composite Group / 20 / 0
384th / Grafton Underwood / 18 / 5
306th / Thurleigh / 21 / 0
305th / Chelveston / 20 / 2
92d / Alconbury / 20 / 2
379th / Kimbolton / 18 / 0
103rd Composite Group / 17 / 4
303rd / Molesworth / 18 / 0
78th Fighter Group / 40 P-47
4th Fighter Group / 48 P-47
56th Fighter Group / 51 P-47
353rd Fighter Group / 42 P-47
That was the largest raid conducted by the 8th AAF in 1943.
On August 1, 1943 the 9th AAF in the MTO launched Operation Tidal Wave - The raid on Ploesti. The 9th AAF had only two bombardment groups and had to borrow three groups from the 8th AAF to cobble together a strike force of 178 aircraft. They were met by 52 Axis fighters.
That was the largest raid conducted by the 9th AAF in 1943.
By contrast during the Battle of Kursk the Luftwaffe flew 27,221 sorties in ten days during the initial German offensive from July 5 to July 15, 1943. On July 5 alone they flew 4,475 sorties... one day. The Soviets flew 118,000 sorties during their counterattack from August 5 to 23. 118,000 sorties in two and a half weeks... (Kursk 1943: A Statistical Analysis, by Niklas Zetterling, Anders Frankson.) It remains the largest series of armored clashes, including the Battle of Prokhorovka, the largest series of air battles including the largest dogfight near Kharkov, a huge melee of more than 500 aircraft fighting at treetop level, and the costliest single day of aerial warfare to date. It was the last strategic offensive the Germans were able to mount in the east.
