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.
THE PRICE OF VICTORY (cost of an aircraft in WWII dollars):
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.
WWII MOST-PRODUCED COMBAT AIRCRAFT:
Ilyushin IL-2 Sturmovik ~ 36,183 Yakolev Yak-1,-3,-7, -9 ~ 31,000+ Messerschmitt Bf-109 ~ 30,480 Focke-Wulf Fw-190 ~ 29,001 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 Junkers Ju-88 ~ 15,000 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 Petlyakov Pe-2 ~ 11,400 Lockheed P-38 Lightning ~ 10,037 Mitsubishi A6M Zero ~ 10,449 North American B-25 Mitchell ~ 9,984 Lavochkin LaGG-5 ~ 9,920 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 Avro Lancaster ~ 7,377 Heinkel He-111 ~ 6,508 Handley-Page Halifax ~ 6,176 Messerschmitt Bf-110 ~ 6,150 Lavochkin LaGG-7 ~ 5,753 Boeing B-29 Superfortress ~ 3,970 Short Stirling ~ 2,383
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.)
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 causesoverseas.
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 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.
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.
Id LOVE to find a $55K P-51 or a $22K AT6 today. Id buy one in a minute. I paid $80K for a 172 Cessna....
To upgrade from a P-47 Thunderbolt to a P-51 Mustang would be a bit too much while enroute, lol. From an aircooled radial to a water cooled inline would be like getting out of a VW bug into a Corvette as far as difference. P-47 was a monster though, I think I remember reading about one particular one that returned to England...and landed....after a France sortie with 200+ bullet holes from the tail to the engine block.
I think I remember reading about one particular one that returned to England...and landed....after a France sortie with 200+ bullet holes from the tail to the engine block.
One of the sayings in the age old discussion of which fighter was better was this. "If you want to impress your girl back home you fly a P-51; If you want to return to your girl back home fly a P-47".
Keeping the automobile comparison, the P-47 was more of an F-150 Lightning to a Mustang GT rather than a VW van. Just sayin'.
And people today think Iraq and Afghanistan was "war" and certainly for those involved it was, but nowhere near the scale of WWII. 4489 US casualties in Operation Iraqi Freedom over 11 years. 2354 US casualties in Afghanistan over 13 years.
6843 total from 2001 until today, and we lost that many EVERY MONTH for four years in WWII.
War today is something we read about and discuss. It really only touches those actively serving, their families and loved ones. WWII affected everyone, whether you were in the military or not. Factories shut down and converted to making war time products. Rationing of food, gas and rubber - really everything. Everyone changed their life to support the war. Growing victory gardens due to rationing so there'd be enough food for the troops.
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Within two months of the Dec. 7, 1941, bombing of Pearl Harbor, the last civilian cars rolled off the assembly lines, and auto plants were frantically converting to military-only production of arms, munitions, trucks, tanks and planes. By December 1942, Detroit had become the "Arsenal of Democracy" and didn't resume civilian production of automobiles until the war ended in 1945.
As the biggest of 23 General Motors divisions and subsidiaries, Chevrolet assumed a huge role, much of it spelled out in the pages of Automotive News.
Chevrolet General Manager Marvin E. Coyle told Automotive News that the automaker had started production of 14-cylinder bomber engines in Buffalo, N.Y., in December 1942, only 340 days after a request for a bid from prime contractor Pratt & Whitney. And four months later, Chevrolet had boosted output to five times the original contract and had cut the unit cost to the government by half, he added.
Between 1942 and 1945, Chevrolet manufactured 60,000 Pratt & Whitney bomber and cargo plane engines; 500,000 trucks; 8 million artillery shells; 3,000 90 mm cannon barrels; 1 million tons of aluminum forgings; 1 million tons of grey iron castings; 2,850 tons of magnesium forgings; and 3,800 T-17 Staghound armored scout cars. ... By late 1942, as the military production tooling Chevrolet had set up started to hit full production, GM Chairman Alfred Sloan said GM had 400,000 employees at 112 plants devoting 95 percent of company output to the war effort. GM had boosted output 50 percent above prewar levels, he added.
[This message has been edited by Formula88 (edited 12-12-2014).]
The first war that was won on an industrial scale. We could make weapons and train people to use them faster then they could .. period. Our greatest generation with out a doubt.
One of the sayings in the age old discussion of which fighter was better was this. "If you want to impress your girl back home you fly a P-51; If you want to return to your girl back home fly a P-47".
I read somewhere that some German pilot said you couldn't hit the pilot in a P-47. He had to much room too run around in the plane.
P47 was also referred to as the 'Jug ' because of its fuselage shape. The later versions had bubble canopies like a Mustang. Earlier were called 'Razorbacks' because of the roof on the top. The pilot was surrounded by armor plate below, beside and behind him, so unless you got a canopy hit, you were unlikely to injure the pilot. Ive got a cool 1/10 scale RC one that unfortunately had a takeoff crash. I may fix it some day.
The P-47 was actually the culmination of a line of fighter aircraft first developed by the Seversky / Republic aircraft manufacturer. You can see the family resemblance:
First up was the P-35
Next the P-41
Then the P-43
( In another guise I build digital airplanes for flight sims so I have a bunch of pretty much useless knowledge of WWII aircraft floating around in my head )
I was trying to figure out how the video related to Fieros and then it hit me. It starts out being towed.
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Originally posted by California Kid: ....surprisingly it looked a little similar to the P-47:
Yikes!!!!!
The guys at Grumman AND Republic are rolling over in their graves right now. ( Just kidding, Kid )
These two mighty planes were built within 10 miles of each other out on Long Island. The rivalry between companies was intense to say the least. I was born and raised in the area and we had family and friends that were employed at both facilities.
Interesting facts about the Bearcat.
It was deployed in February '45 but did not see combat in WWII but it flew and fought all the way into the Vietnam era.
Also, an unmodified production F8F-1 set a 1946 time-to-climb record of sea level to 10,000 ft in 94 seconds which was 6,383 fpm. This record held for 10 years until it was broken by a modern jet fighter.
Now another thing is that, contrary to some of the comments on the youtube site, the Japanese had some very advanced fighters of their own. The Ki-100, Ki-84 and N1K1 were all roughly equal to the Hellcats, Corsairs, Thunderbolts and Mustangs we deployed.
Their downfall was quality control, especially the engines and production volume. Oh and lack of pilot training played a major role in the defeat of the Japanese air forces.
If you guys are really that interested in this stuff I can put together all sorts of WWII based posts.
My back seat time was in AD-5 Skyraiders. They were fitting them with 50 calibre machine guns just before I got out of the Navy. We found out that they were useful for low and slow fighting in Viet Nam. I think the reason was the 5/8" armor engine cowling which made them hard to bring down with small arms fire. I was surprised when I first saw the armor because everything else about aviation was about light weight. We had some hot rod pilots. The rivets would all have to be retightened when they came back. Big radial single engined fighters were awesome in their time and still are even if they're antiques. Nothing like the sound and clouds of oil smoke when they fired them up!
My back seat time was in AD-5 Skyraiders. They were fitting them with 50 calibre machine guns just before I got out of the Navy. We found out that they were useful for low and slow fighting in Viet Nam. I think the reason was the 5/8" armor engine cowling which made them hard to bring down with small arms fire. I was surprised when I first saw the armor because everything else about aviation was about light weight. We had some hot rod pilots. The rivets would all have to be retightened when they came back. Big radial single engined fighters were awesome in their time and still are even if they're antiques. Nothing like the sound and clouds of oil smoke when they fired them up!
No matter what people try to say today, our nation stands alone in capability and resolve.
When all is said and done, IMO nobody came close to the "resolve" that the Russian people demonstrated in WW2. It might be difficult for those of us in the west to acknowledge it, but the Russians simply refused (at any cost) to be overrun by the Germans.
When all is said and done, IMO nobody came close to the "resolve" that the Russian people demonstrated in WW2. It might be difficult for those of us in the west to acknowledge it, but the Russians simply refused (at any cost) to be overrun by the Germans.
Very true. The US suffered about 420,000 casualties, or 0.32% of our 1939 population. The Soviet Union had about 24 - 26 MILLION casualties, or about 14% of their population. The numbers are just staggering. They couldn't get enough rifles for their infantry, so they deployed in groups so when the first rifleman was killed, the next guy in line picked up his weapon and kept fighting - until he was killed, and so on.
When all is said and done, IMO nobody came close to the "resolve" that the Russian people demonstrated in WW2. It might be difficult for those of us in the west to acknowledge it, but the Russians simply refused (at any cost) to be overrun by the Germans.
Without the Russians I'm not sure how things would have turned out. However, they were fighting for survival on their own soil whereas the US and Canadians were fairly well isolated from direct confrontation with the Axis powers.
Originally posted by Patrick: When all is said and done, IMO nobody came close to the "resolve" that the Russian people demonstrated in WW2. It might be difficult for those of us in the west to acknowledge it, but the Russians simply refused (at any cost) to be overrun by the Germans.
Not to belittle their resolve but the Germans made a few tactical errors which doomed them. They expected to take Moscow before winter and did not plan for the weather. First the Germans got bogged down in mud then froze to death because they did not have winter provisions.
I believe the first jet aircraft shot down by a propeller plane in combat was a P51 or F4U that shot down a mig 15 in Korea. Thats not counting German ME262s that were destroyed by allied prop fighters when they returned to their bases and slowed to land and generally unarmed...so not really combat.
My favorite period of American history.
