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So, How Long Does It Take To Complete 25 Missions?




Michael Giacchino is the Mozart, Beethoven and Bach of our generation

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Could be done in a month, though unlikely as the guy would have been dead--the average life expectancy of bomber crewmen was measure in minutes--or a blithering idiot because of the stress of combat flying every day. Missions could be scrubbed for a number of reasons: bad weather, mechanical problems, change in mission or, sometimes, for morale reasons or even illness. So twenty-five missions usually took months--if the crewman lived that long.

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"the average life expectancy of bomber crewmen was measure in minutes" - utter nonsense. The truth is sobering enough without making a travesty of it. Losses were heavily dependent on what phase of the war, and what theater, we are talking about. 1943 in Europe, without any fighter escorts, was brutal. At one point, it was estimated that 1/3 of all B-17 crewmen would not survive the war. Airplane loss rates per mission frequently rose above the 3-5% that was considered the maximum allowable AVERAGE, and there were instances of over 10%, including isolated instances well over.

By 1944, with the availability of P-51 escort fighters, the losses were much lower, and by 1945 it was an unlucky B-17 crewman who bought it.

The AAF's peak strength was 2.4 million, and of that about 40,000 airmen were killed in all aircraft types in all theaters in 3-1/2 years of combat. 15,000 were killed in aircraft ACCIDENTS within US borders!

Of 12,400 B-17s produced, 3500 were lost in Europe, but that also means 8900 were NOT.

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*throws hands in the air in exasperation*

Well... there you go bringing FACTS into the equation!

Operation Chastise (the Dam Buster's Raid) was particularly high on the casualty rate, and 'only' 50% of the aircraft bought it. Now, I don't say 'only' because I think that a small number, but like you said, "the average life expectancy of bomber crewmen was measure in minutes" is utter tripe. The truth is bad enough.

SpiltPersonality

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First mission was 11/07/1942

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Hell's Angel flew it's first mission on 7 November 1942 and completed their 25th mission on 13 May 1943, 188 days or 6 months, 7 days. (First bomber in VIII Bomber Command to complete 25 combat missions, later redesignated as Eighth Air Force on 22 February 1944).

Memphis Belle 7 November 1942 and completed their 25th mission 19 May 1943, 194 days or 6 months, 13 days.

http://www.303rdbg.com/h-ha-mb.html

"Toto, I've [got] a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

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[deleted]

Depends on the time of year due to the weather. The tempo increased as more bombers became available at which time mission completion requirement was increased. Also a planned mission which was aborted did not count towards the total. An airman was stressed not just when amongst flak and fighters but the anticipation of them as well once it had been experienced.

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Heavy bombers like the B-17 and B-24 (and their dedicated fighter escorts) flew only one mission a day and only if the weather permitted. Some days the weather was bad over England, some days over the target. The European weather was universally considered to be miserable. Also the winter of 1944-45 was worse than locals could remember.
25 missions certainly took a while.
Medium Bombers and fighters of the tactical air forces (U.S. 9th A.F.) often flew two or more missions in a day because they flew shorter distances and the flight time was shorter.

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I believe as casualty rates declined, the 25 missions were raised to 30 or more.
RAF Bomber Command had "operational tours" of 30 missions. It was quite common to return for a second tour after a break.

"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."

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