Bomber Command was a multi-national force and Australian aircrew could be assigned to one of the Australian squadrons, or to a Royal Air Force (RAF) Squadron. It's interesting that you mention the odds of survival at 24%. Choose your Crew! The aircrews of RAF Bomber Command during World War II operated a fleet of bomber aircraft carried strategic bombing operations from September 1939 to May 1945, on behalf of the Allied powers. Train and personalise your own Bomber Crew. In it, you manage a crew … Train and personalise your own Bomber Crew. The conditions under which a Bomber Crew had to operate were Spartan. Testimony Transcript. Survival rate two tours Bomber Command Has any member seen any figures relative to the chances of air crew surviving two complete tours of operations in WWII I am looking at a Pilot serving mid 1940 to late 1942 periods. Close. I have always thought it would be pretty low if I giant shell pierced the armour and exploded inside the tank but apparently a lot did survive. Apart from the fact that their oxygen lines could freeze in the cold temperatures of high altitude, they were also the number 1 target for enemy fighters. Of all the members of a typical WWII bomber crew, the ball turret gunner had the shortest lifespan of them all (Kind of like the guy in the red shirt on "Star Trek" that went to the planet surface with the crew.) Takao, Jun 29, 2018 #21. brianw Member. This poem has stayed with me since I first read it in school: The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarrell Joined: Sep 6, 2011 Operations in WW2: 82,773 (73,312 as bomber) Losses: 2.232 (37.08 ops per loss) Bomb tonnage on targets: 224,207 (3.06 tons per bomber op) Survival rate for night bombing missions: average of 20 night bombing-missions in c.6 weeks. Damage to the “waist-gunner” area of the bomber accounted 21.6 percent of all the hits the plane took. 434 Squadron in fact was known as the unlucky squadron for having had far higher casualty rates than the other squadrons. Choose your Crew! Discussion in 'Air War in Western Europe 1939 - 1945' started by buckusmc, Jan 31, 2016 ... it became operational too late to make a difference to the outcome of WW2. It was not uncommon for a rested crew member to volunteer for a second bomber tour. Hell’s Angels was the first B-17/crew to complete 25 missions on May 13, 1943. US bomber crews were allowed to leave the service if they survived 25 missions. The SBD Dauntless was the primary dive bomber and scout plane for the United States Navy between mid-1940 and mid-1944 and was also flown by the United States Marine Corps … Best Regards, MB_Avro. As the crew worked feverishly to keep the bomber from ripping apart, the pilot continued toward his target and successfully released his bombs. During WW2, how did casualty rates compare between the different combat arms? Laurence Rees: Clarence Roundtree was an American who served in Britain with the US Eighth Army Air Force – the bomber group that made hazardous daylight raids on enemy targets. Posted by. Hi all, I seem to remember reading somewhere that the chances of Bailing Out of an RAF Lancaster Bomber was about 7%. Germany's casualty statistics: By D-Day, 35% … At an operation on Nuremburg, on which I luckily was not flying, we lost some 650 men in one night. You can contrast this with the fact that during the Battle of Britain , 500 pilots were killed over the whole period of the battle, comprising the summer months of 1940. 11. (Source: Royal Air Force Magazine 1995) On 17 AUG 1943 36 of 230 B-17s and 5 fighters were lost on a mission to Schweinfurt. This was a significant accomplishment for these airmen as RAF bomber losses in WW2 were staggeringly high with records indicating bomber command having suffered 51% casualty rates. Regarding Survival rates of US strategic bomber crews, I remember reading a passage in a book called my war by Andy Rooney, he was stationed with the 8th airforce in the beginning of the campaign. Nose Art If a bomber crew was assigned a particular aircraft, ... RCAF’s Halifax operations between March 1943 and February 1944, the average loss rate was 6.05%, producing a mere 16% survival rate (for a tour of 30 operations). See Lancaster Bomber emergency exits. Another thing about the Mosquito is the survival rate of the planes and crew, an argument of speed over defence. From November 1943 to March 1944 Berlin was repeatedly bombed, the loss rate of the heavy bombers (predominantly Lancaster’s) was 5.1%, for the Mosquito it was 0.5%. This was a far higher rate of casualties than any other service in either the First or Second World Wars. Halifax: 34.7%. In WW I, and again in WW II, in teh USA if you were in the military you could purchase life insurance - totally optional. Launching Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortresses" and Consolidated B-24 "Liberators" from bases in England's eastern countryside, the Americans bombed their targets during the day while the British attacked at night. Does anyone have any information on the survivability of tank crews in World War 2 and what the most common injuries/causes of death were. Survival rate of those who were shot down: Lancaster: 18.8%. The casualties suffered by the Eighth Air Force were about half of the U.S. Army Air Force's casualties (47,483 out of 115,332), including more than 26,000 dead. Procedurally-generated names, skills and back stories means a unique experience for everyone, but be careful, as death is permanent. An Operational tour for a bomber crew consisted of thirty (30), non-aborted, operational sorties. Upon completion of their tour, the crew would normally be broken up and rested by being assigned to various Conversion or other non-operational units as instructors. To use the term working conditions in the context of War is of course horribly inappropriate. The bomber is crewed by 9 crew members! The crews were men from the United Kingdom, other Commonwealth countries, and occupied Europe, especially Poland, France, Czechoslovakia and Norway, as well as other foreign volunteers. The SBD Dauntless Dive Bomber, also known as the Douglas SBD Dauntless, performed the roles of both scout plane and dive bomber for the United States military during World War 2 from 1940 through 1944. Bomber Command losses were not the highest, and correspondingly, the survival rates not the lowest. this means more micro management (its not that bad actually) how I usually crew the plane is I put my bomber on the top gun, the engineer and the navigator can man the 2 front window guns, if you bought them of course. Procedurally-generated names, skills and back stories means a unique experience for everyone, but be careful, as death is permanent. By D-Day the Germans had 1.5 million railway workers operating 988,000 freight cars and used 29,000 per day. 68 airmen perished and 248 were captured. The RAF Halifax had a slightly better average of 10%. A merica joined Britain's strategic air campaign designed to destroy Nazi Germany's industrial capacity soon after her entrance into World War Two. This has been put forth by Galland, Speer, and Milch, amongst others. After every mission he looks round, sees how many planes were lost, and recalculates their odds of survival. WWII Bomber Survival Rate? Prepare your crew for their most dangerous mission yet and go chocks away for a sky-bound expedition in this strategic survival sim, Bomber Crew. Bomber Command, in total, lost some 55,000 aircrew. Crew training was important to all national air forces. The rear turret was a very lonely place on the plane as Hector was completely shut off from the rest of the crew. Bomber Command Survival Rate ww2. A WW2 Bomber was not an Airtight creation. While Bomber Crew is not set in outer space, it does take some of the same principles that made FTL great and transfers them to a WW2 theme. Prepare your crew for their most dangerous mission yet and go chocks away for a sky-bound expedition in this strategic survival sim, Bomber Crew. Memphis Belle’s crew completed 25 missions May 17, 1943 (without any loss of life). Every time, it is consistently 24%. Here are a few quick yet informative stats about American's most famous bomber, the B-17 Flying Fortress. 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