Updated Aug 6, 2018 · Upvoted by Will Bentley, Retired USMC after 28 years: service as officer and enlisted, active and reserve and Anthony Ricci, 12 years USMC, 10 Navy, 3 Army: 1st Gulf War, OIF-06/07
To put this into sobering perspective - the 8th Air Force in Europe lost more men than the entire US Marine Corps did in World War Two - both horrible thoughts to consider. In the early part of the war (1943) when the US was ready to commence long range, unescorted deep incursion bombing (the Luftwaffe would just wait for the US escorts to reach the limit of their operational range and attack in earnest when the escorts had to turn back), the statistical chances for a USAAF heavy Bomber crew in Europe to be lost on a mission were 1-in-10. At a 25 mission tour of duty, statistically, once you made it to 10 you were literally on borrowed time to get to 25. Hence, the festivities and great deal made about the Memphis Belle when this particular B-17 crew completed and returned to base safely after their 25th mission at that phase in the conflict.. As an aside, the aircraft commander of the Memphis Belle, Robert Morgan, was also a part of the first B-29 raid on Tokyo when he transferred to the PTO. Martin Caidin wrote the definitive book on the plight of the bomber crews in “Black Thursday”, which chronicled in great detail the 2nd Schweinfurt bombing raid of October 14, 1943, where 60 bombers and their crews were lost. There was an similar earlier raid that included Regensburg that cost the same.. An astute reader pointed out and I adjusted the statistical losses at Kassel later in the war of a B-24 mission at a cost 28 of 35 bombers as the greatest percentage of heavy bomber losses on a mission. The same person also pointed out, the worse single mission for the USAAF was 69 losses in a raid on Berlin. Thank you David! Statistical losses were mounting so high that the USAAF actually had to suspend daylight bombing over Germany in late 1943 until solutions could be arrived at. It was that bad. That solution came in the form of the P-51 long range escort that evened the playing field somewhat against the Luftwaffe, but not so against flak, both being statistically equally bomber killers. After D-Day , with Luftwaffe forward bases pushed further and further back towards Germany, the attrition of the best and most experienced Luftwaffe pilots (no tours of duty here - they fought until they were killed or captured), increased pressure coming from the Soviets in the East, with some diversion of resources to that front by the Germans, and the increasingly overwhelming presence of USAAF fighter escorts over the skies of Germany, tours of duty were extended to 30 missions, then 35 for the bomber crews in the last months of the war in Europe. In the last few days of the conflict, strategic bombing in Europe was halted altogether because of lack of viable targets. One last unbelievable fact — throughout it all, NOT ONE MISSION EVER TURNED BACK because of the intensity of the resistance faced. NOT ONE. The definition of heroism. Read the book by Caidin. Chilling.
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