Luftwaffe Strength 40-45

[ctrian]

A while ago i asked if someone had data for RAF strength during ww2 in this post
http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/ww2-general/raf-strength-1939-1945-request-24313.html
unfortunately noone anwsered.Since i have data for the Luftwaffe i decided to post them for anyone interested.Sources are Luftwaffe Data book for 1941-45 and Strategy for Defeat table 3 for 1940 (Note that Murray gives higher figures for 1941.)

Small mistake: Ground Attack for 1940 should be 467 not 477.

 

[timor]

Thank's man. Is interesting what will be the numbers without the bombing offensive.

 

[ctrian]

I thought i should post Murray's data for 1941 since they differ from Price.Source: Strategy for defeat
table 12.Note that Murray gives only number of dive bombers other ground attack are not included.

 

[davebender]

Interesting.

Do we have nunbers for specific aircraft models?
i.e.
?? x Me-109
?? x Fw-190A / D9 (fighter types)
?? x Fw-190F / G (CAS types)
?? x Ju-88A (light bombers)
?? x Ju-88C / G (night fighters)
Etc.

 

[alejandro_]

Front line aircraft strength:

Sources and links:

- The Luftwaffe over Germany, Defense of the Reich, Donald Caldwell and Richard Muller. Greenhill books, 2007.
- Eagle in flames, The fall of the Luftwaffe, E.R Hooton, MPG Books Lmt, 1997.
- AIR 40/1207: The German Air Force: first line strength at three monthly intervals during the European War 1939-1945.
- Historia y tecnología militar

 

[ctrian]

@davebender ,yes i have an excell file with data broken down by type and theater but its several pages long.You can find the data online here but youll have to calculate (or you can buy Price's book):
Luftwaffe Orders Of Battle - The Air Combat Wiki

@alexandro ,i also have 40/1207 but its better not to mix different authors or studies look at the difference of Murray and Price.

 

[timshatz]

It would be interesting to see the aircraft levels for the allies v Germany at the same time. Specifically, western allies as that is where most of the strength was positioned.

 

[ctrian]

You can find data for USAAF here:
Air Force Historical Research Agency - Timelines check the statistical digest

 

[timshatz]

By May 1944, the US alone had a 3 to 1 advantage over ALL Luftwaffe fighters, not just the ones they faced. That is huge.

 

[ctrian]

If you add RAF and Soviet frontline combat aircraft the difference in mid 44 is more than 5 to 1.Add the german lack of fuel and you can understand why its a hopeless situation.

 

[Milosh]

@davebender ,yes i have an excell file with data broken down by type and theater but its several pages long.You can find the data online here but youll have to calculate (or you can buy Price's book):
Luftwaffe Orders Of Battle - The Air Combat Wiki

Looks like the Wiki is from this link, Luftwaffe Orders of Battle

 

[ctrian]

That link still has the same data as the book , totals are for serviceable aircraft not on hand,so either way you have to work through the data yourself.

 

[Hop]

RAF strength in squadrons May 1944:

SE Fighters
Spitfire - 1,824
Mustang - 237
Typhoon - 385
Tempest - 35
Hurricane - 577 (mostly Middle East and SE Asia)
Kittyhawk - 72
Total - 3,130

TE Fighters
Mosquito - 362
Beaufighter - 451
Total - 813

Heavy Bombers
Lancaster - 815
Halifax - 543
Stirling - 92
Liberator - 66
Total - 1,516

Medium Bombers
Wellington - 168
Mitchell - 3
Total - 171

Light Bombers
Mosquito - 253
Boston - 63
Mitchell - 73
Baltimore - 136
Marauder - 40
Vengeance - 93
Total - 658

Photo recce
Spitfire - 106
Mosquito - 51
Total - 157

Observation (short range recce?)
Auster - 205

General Recce (Coastal?)
Albacore - 16
Fortress - 20
Halifax - 26
Liberator - 130
Wellington - 268
Ventura - 46
Beaufort - 27
Hudson - 27
Total - 560

Flying Boats
Catalina - 106
Sunderland - 110
Total - 216

Transports
Albermarle - 107
Halifax - 63
Stirling - 96
Total - 266

These figures are just for front line aircraft, they exclude the substantial reserves the RAF kept. As an example of just how extensive those reserves could be, in Sept 1943 the RAF had 962 Spitfires in front line squadron strength in the UK. However they had 86 Spitfire XIIs, 820 Spitfire IXs, 389 Spitfire VIIIs, 40 Spitfire VIIs, 58 Spitfire VIs and 1,842 Spitfire Vs in the UK. 262 Mustangs were in front line squadron strength, but 542 on hand in the UK.

 

[Kurfürst]

Luftwaffe strenght by unit type and aircraft type, between March 1942 - December 1944, complied from monthly unit strenght reports at ww2.dk by our member HoHun (great job!)

Note that due to the second graph is counting aircraft type, one type is not neccesarily only a "bomber" or a "fighter". For example there were substantial amount of Ju 88s in nightfighter units, or Fw 190s in ground attack units; 109s were not confined to fighter roles but were employed in close recce units as well.

 

[Kurfürst]

These figures are just for front line aircraft, they exclude the substantial reserves the RAF kept.

This is a bit misleading, since the RAF persued a rather different approach with its Squadrons which as I believe were consisted of 12 "flying" aircraft and 8 reserve aircraft that would not fly missions. So in a way in this figures of yours there are indeed passive/reserve aircraft included.

 

[ctrian]

Good work Hop , @everyone iv made a few mistakes in the original table im working on a new one with zero errors.Note that the site i linked to also has ommisions and errors.

 

[davebender]

Light Bombers
Mosquito - 253

Does this include all the Mosquitos assigned to Path finder missions?

 

[alejandro_]

If you add RAF and Soviet frontline combat aircraft the difference in mid 44 is more than 5 to 1.Add the german lack of fuel and you can understand why its a hopeless situation.

Soviet front line aircraft can be found in the link below for different periods of the war. Its in Spanish but can be easily translated using google translator.

http://www.rkka.es/Estadisticas/VVS_stat/03/03_00_index.htm

January 1945, total aircraft: 13.936+1.211!
http://www.rkka.es/Estadisticas/VVS_stat/03/03_08.htm

 

[ctrian]

or you can go to axis history forum:
Axis History Forum • View topic - Soviet Fronts strengths: Overview

 

[Juha]

Hello Hop
great work, but I wonder where are the Dakotas? There should have been over 100 in May 44, even in early May, 40 arriving for RAF in May 44 and 174 being in sqns on 5th June 44.

Hello Kurfürst
Great graphs! Thans a lot!

On the active/reserve a/c in RAF sqns. The number of a/c participating sorties depended on time and on type of sqn. But if you are talking on fighter sqns, even if full combat formation consisted of 12 fighters, if a sqn flew more than one full strength sweep a day it usually used more than 12 a/c in combat missions during the day, at least during summer 44. For ex when 331 Sqn flew 33 combat sorties on 25 Jul 44, 16 of its fighters used, of which 7 flew twice and 5 trice. It seems that on busy days in summer 44 14-16 different Spits of 331 were used in combat ops on certain day. I didn't bother to check how many was weekly utilised.

Juha