Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire WWII AIRCRAFT - The numbers

This was sent to me, so I have no link to the original.

Below is an excellent summary of the effort required in WWII. It focuses on the American side of things, but the British, Germans and Japanese expended comparable energy and experienced similar costs. Just one example for the Luftwaffe; about 1/3 of the Bf109s built were lost in non-combat crashes. After Midway, the Japanese experience level declined markedly, with the loss of so many higher-time naval pilots. This piece is worth saving in hard copy.


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.
Statistics from Flight Journal magazine.

THE PRICE OF VICTORY (cost of an aircraft in WWII dollars)
B-17 $204,370. P-40 $44,892.
B-24 $215,516. P-47 $85,578.
B-25 $142,194. P-51 $51,572.
B-26 $192,426. C-47 $88,574.
B-29 $605,360. PT-17 $15,052.
P-38 $97,147. 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
Ilyushin IL-2 Sturmovik 36,183
Description: Description: part1.00030804.01050702

Yakolev Yak-1,-3,-7, -9 31,000+
Description: Description: part2.00040200.04020704

Messerschmitt Bf-109 30,480
Description: Description: part3.03080807.00010904
Focke-Wulf Fw-190 29,001
Description: Description: part4.06050109.03060105
Supermarine Spitfire/Seafire 20,351
Description: Description: part5.07090200.02040407
Convair B-24/PB4Y Liberator/Privateer 18,482
Description: Description: part6.03020902.09090702
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt 15,686
Description: Description: part7.08090708.08090403
North American P-51 Mustang 15,875
Description: Description: part8.04070506.02010605
Junkers Ju-88 15,000
Description: Description: part9.03040807.07060801
Hawker Hurricane 14,533
Description: Description: part10.09000907.08090205
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk 13,738
Description: Description: part11.04050906.07010900
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress 12,731
Description: Description: part12.05020606.05040909
Vought F4U Corsair 12,571
Description: Description: part13.08010709.02070309
Grumman F6F Hellcat 12,275
Description: Description: part14.01010107.00040500
Petlyakov Pe-2 11,400
Description: Description: part15.09040000.00030400
Lockheed P-38 Lightning 10,037
Description: Description: part16.03090908.08000404
Mitsubishi A6M Zero 10,449
Description: Description: part17.06080801.09040609
North American B-25 Mitchell 9,984
Description: Description: part18.05070501.07040404
Lavochkin LaGG-5 9,920
Description: Description: part19.03020706.01060102
Note: The LaGG-5 was produced with both water-cooled (top) and air-cooled (bottom) engines.
Description: Description: part20.05050700.02070906
Grumman TBM Avenger 9,837
Description: Description: part21.07080607.01020403
Bell P-39 Airacobra 9,584
Description: Description: part22.00070706.03040706
Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar 5,919
Description: Description: part23.09080903.07070802
DeHavilland Mosquito 7,780
Description: Description: part24.06050903.03060406
Avro Lancaster 7,377
Description: Description: part25.08010808.03050701
Heinkel He-111 6,508
Description: Description: part26.06030500.09030806
Handley-Page Halifax 6,176
Description: Description: part27.05050404.01040709
Messerschmitt Bf-110 6,150
Description: Description: part28.06090108.04060503
Lavochkin LaGG-7 5,753
Description: Description: part29.02030302.03090706
Boeing B-29 Superfortress 3,970
Description: Description: part30.03070809.03090108
Short Stirling 2,383
Description: Description: part31.00040705.01000105

Sources: Rene Francillon, Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific war; Cajus Bekker, The Luftwaffe Diaries; Ray Wagner, American Combat Planes; Wikipedia.


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 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 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 20 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.

It seems appropriate to put a face to the numbers. A cousin I never had the honor to meet:



"Killed in Action: July 10, 1945, Pacific Ocean while returning from a fighter sweep mission over Kyushu, Japan."

July 10 - he almost made it back. I've been told the world has missed out.

I attended the Aviation Safety Officer course years ago at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey CA. Here is a snippet on what we learned about Naval aviation mishap rates since 1945:

Beginning in the early 1950�s, the Navy along with the other military services worked with the University of Southern California (USC) to establish a source of safety education for military officers, especially aviation safety officers (ASO). Until 1965, the single source for such education was located on the USC campus. In 1965, the Navy established its own aviation safety school at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. The Army then established its school at Fort Rucker, Alabama, and the Air Force, while retaining USC as the contractor, moved its school to Norton Air Force Base, California (subsequently to Kirtland AFB, New Mexico).

Initially, the Naval Postgraduate School�s Aviation Safety course was integrated into the undergraduate degree program. The Director of Aviation Safety Programs reported to the Director of Programs at the Postgraduate School and served as a principal adviser to the Commander of the Naval Safety Center on matters of safety education and training.

In 1967, Aviation Safety Programs was created as a separately accredited curriculum. At that time, the Aviation Safety Command Course was also moved from USC to the Naval Postgraduate School. This course was specifically designed for commanders and executive officers of aviation squadrons and activities, and for senior staff aviation safety officers.

In 1995 Aviation Safety Programs became the School of Aviation Safety. The Director reported to the Superintendent and the Provost and served as a principal adviser to the Commander of the Naval Safety Center on matters regarding aviation safety education and training. Today the School of Aviation Safety educates over 750 Navy, Marine and Coast Guard officers each year as well as members of NASA, the FAA and foreign services. The present staff is headed by a Navy Captain and consists of military and civilian instructors and administrative support personnel.

Tremendous strides have been made in reducing the Naval aircraft mishap rates. For example, there were 13,201 Class A (non-combat related) mishaps in 1945, a rate of 83.3 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours, with 6,497 aircraft destroyed and 3,171 pilots and aircrew killed. In 1953 the mishap rate was 51.2 per 100,000 flight hours. In the period from 1999 to 2003 naval aviation has averaged 1.89 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours. In May 2003, the Secretary of Defense issued a challenge to reduce the number of mishaps by 50%. The School of Aviation Safety is addressing the challenge by focusing the education of aviation safety officers and an increase in unit safety awareness.

There is a constant fleet demand for both ASO and ASC quotas, as well as on-site workshops in aviation safety. The staff responds daily to questions on programs, reporting, aerodynamics, aero-structures, psychology and investigations from fleet aviation commands. In October of 2004, the School of Aviation Safety was relocated to Pensacola, Florida. The school returned to Monterey, California for 3 months following hurricane Ivan. As of April 2005 the school was officially aligned under Naval Aviation Schools Command and is a pro-active, involved resource that has contributed significantly to the mission readiness of Naval Aviation.

I wonder how those would convert into today's dollars.

If that B-17 was made in 1943 for $204,370.00, then it would cost $2,672,521 in today's dollars.

Here is the link if anyone is interested. http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

Thanks. Good link.
But, I question it's accuracy. Would a P-51 really cost ~$650,000 today?

Did a P-51 really only cost $51k in 1943?

At one time I saw the price of a P-51 and it was in that range, but, IIRC, that might not have included the engine.

A more staggering thought tho...

in 1943, the average life span of a B17 assigned to the ETO, was 7 weeks long... from the day it rolled out the factory door, to the time it went down in combat...

The above was a very famous picture of P51s on a Bomber escort mission in 1944 AFTER the D Day invasion...it is one of the most famous of the war, due to the colorfulness of the squadron's A/C paint job...

What you never hear about tho, is the P51 in the forefront, with the Yellow Nose, was flow by the unit commander.... this aircraft took a direct hit from flak, 10 minutes after this picture was taken...the pilot of course was killed when the A/C blew up when hit by Flak...

The second P51 with the code of E2-S, was very famous as it has been used as an example for Modelers, Photographers, Pictures for Book about the P 51, due to its very colorful paint job and this particular picture...

What is not known publicly...this Aircraft was shot down in combat, just less than 2 weeks after this photo was taken...

the combat life of this particular P51 SN 413-926, was less than 6 weeks from being received by the Squadron brand new.. to the time it went down on an escort mission over Europe...

sources: History of the 357th FG...

The numbers are staggering. More than one person has stated that the USA today could not mount an equivalent industrial effort.

What always amazes me is how fast we geared up. We were still in a lingering Depression with limited industrial output.

Factories making vacuum cleaners had to convert to making machine guns, car lines to making trucks and tanks. Shipyard output expanded exponentially. Turrets, treads, armor plate, propellors, nuts and bolts - literally millions of sub-assemblies had to be created across the country and shipped to the right places for assembly.

Training cadres had to be assembled and training facilities built before we could start churning out pilots, navigators, gunners, infantrymen, tankers, artillerymen, sailors of all skills and the whole slew of mechanics, medics, cooks, clerks - all of the support personnel in the numbers needed.

And all of this was done in the space of roughly 3 years and 9 months - Dec. 8th, 1941 through Sept. 2nd, 1945, or 45 months.

The Manhattan project started with some theories and a barren desert. Before anything could be done an entire town had to be created in the middle of nowhere - houses, streets, sewers, electric lines - just to house the workers neeeded. When that was done they could get down to actually making a working atomic bomb. All under the strictest security. From start to a finished bomb took 22 months.

And all of the above was accomplished without email or computers. Phones, snail mail and slide rules were the tools of the trade.

Hell, a simple computer software upgrade can take us 6 months. One installation of a new system took over 2 years to get it right and it wasn't even that complicated of a system.

It is amazing what a country can do when its entire efforts are directed toward one goal.

109

JU 87

ME 262