Hurricane losses in France, 1940

[Jerry W. Loper]

Isn't it true that although about 450 Hawker Hurricane fighters were lost in France in 1940, most losses were planes destroyed or captured on the ground, with only a small percentage destroyed to air-to-air combat?

 

[timshatz]

Probably. Somebody on this board will know the exact numbers but I've read the "Bloody Shambles" series and a similar thing happened in South East Asia. Most of the aircraft were either destroyed on the ground or written off due to operational losses (inexperienced pilots, bad landing areas, ect). Also, a fair amount were lame ducks (down waiting for spares) that were put to the torch when the Japanese showed up.

It was actually pretty amazing how few were actually lost in Air to Air and how many were destroyed by a variety of methods. Another odd one was the number of pilots that went out and just disappeared. No credit put in by the enemy, they just didn't come back. A ton of those.

 

[slaterat]

386 Hurricanes were lost in the Battle of France. Of these a staggering 350 were destroyed on the ground or left behind in the evacuation of France.

Slaterat

 

[parsifal]

However, when you factor in the losses to fighter command operating from SE England, particularly during the Dunkirk evacuation, the losses to the Gladiator , Blenheim and Battle formations, your losses to the RAF overall starts to approach 1000 aircraft over the six week battle

According to wiki, "the Luftwaffe virtually destroyed the Armée de l'Air during the campaign and inflicted heavy losses to the RAF contingent that was deployed. It is estimated the French lost 1,274 aircraft destroyed during the campaign, the British suffered losses of 959 (477 fighters). The battle for France had cost the Luftwaffe 28% of its front line strength, some 1,428 aircraft destroyed. A further 488 were damaged, making a total of 36% of the Luftwaffe strength negatively affected." This, incidentally was the highest loss rate for the LW during 1940, highere than the worst days of the BoB..... Notwithstanding, the campaign had been a spectacular success for the German air-arm. The Luftwaffe had effectively destroyed three Allied air forces and inflicted heavy losses to a fourth.

.

 

[slaterat]

The figure of 386 Hurricane losses includes those lost operating from England and fighting over the continent.

In the period May 10th to June 20th 944 RAF aircraft operating
from Britain and France were lost. Of these 386 were Hurricanes
and 67 Spitfires. Wood and Dempster,Narrow Margin, p. 200


Slaterat