Amazing WWII Aircraft Facts
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.
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.
B-24 $215,516.
B-25 $142,194.
B-26 $192,426.
B-29 $605,360.
P-38 $97,147.
P-40 $44,892.
P-47 $85,578.
P-51 $51,572.
C-47 $88,574.
PT-17 $15,052.
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.
WWII MOST-PRODUCED COMBAT AIRCRAFT
- Code: Select all
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
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.)
--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 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 Apache 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.
And let's get one thing straight. There's a big difference between a pilot and an aviator. One is a technician; the other is an artist in love with flight. — E. B. Jeppesen
