Number of Missions and Rotation Home

[Checkertail20]

I have heard that pilots flew 50 missions then were rotated home but that seems to vary from theater of war and what type of pilot you were (fighter, bomber, transport, etc). I would like more info like how often did a pilot fly missions (once a day, twice a day, fly one mission then have the next day off, etc), how long were they gone before they flew their next tour, and how many total missions did a pilot fly.

 

[mjfur]

Lots of variables existed, but as a general rule 8th AF Bomber Crews started at 25 missions, as the war progressed and survival improved the number was upped to 30 missions then 35 missions. After completing your missions you were assigned a non-combat role or to a training base to impart your wisdom on the next group of replacements.

Entire crews did not stay together to complete all of their missions together. If a person was sick or injured or on leave they would be replaced for that particular mission and would make up that mission on another aircraft.

From the stories I've been told by Vets they could fly two or three days in a row and then were on rest for a period of days. Sometimes weather or aircraft mechanicals would scrub a mission, so a constant variable of change.

I believe Fighter pilots were based on Combat Hours (200hr/250hr?) more so than mission count.

Each combat theater was different.

 

[Barrett]

Lots of variables existed, but as a general rule 8th AF Bomber Crews started at 25 missions, as the war progressed and survival improved the number was upped to 30 missions then 35 missions. After completing your missions you were assigned a non-combat role or to a training base to impart your wisdom on the next group of replacements.

Entire crews did not stay together to complete all of their missions together. If a person was sick or injured or on leave they would be replaced for that particular mission and would make up that mission on another aircraft.

From the stories I've been told by Vets they could fly two or three days in a row and then were on rest for a period of days. Sometimes weather or aircraft mechanicals would scrub a mission, so a constant variable of change.

I believe Fighter pilots were based on Combat Hours (200hr/250hr?) more so than mission count.

Each combat theater was different.

Good answer, valid on both points. (RAF Bomber Command tours were 30 "trips" through most of the war. Few of the chaps made it...)

In writing the 15th AF book I found that 50 was the usual bomber tour
but
it wasn't that simple
At all.
Until the Russians took Ploesti late summer 44 it was a "double counter" as were some other notorious targets including Vienna, Weiner-Neustadt, and Bleckhammer ("Black Hammer."). But the 50-mission credit usually involved 35 takeoffs.

 

[33k in the air]

The following document will be of interest:

Combat Crew Rotation -- World War II and Korea
Historical Studies Branch, USAF Historical Division
Aerospace Studies Institute, Air University
Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama
January 1968


For information on RAF combat tours, see this webpage. It also has some information on tour lengths in the air forces of other nations. Sources consulted are listed at the bottom of the webpage.

 

[Checkertail20]

Thanks for all the information.

 

[cvairwerks]

Number of missions flown is going to vary by aircraft type flown as well. I just pulled the flight record for one of my uncles. He was flying in the 1st Air Commandos during his overseas time. January of 45 was an interesting month for him. He flew all 31 days of the month, of which 27 show operational mission flights. He flew 150 missions in those 27 days and 6 non operational flights on the other 4 days. January 11 had to have been something major going on as he flew 24 missions that day for a total of 5 hours and 45 minutes. All of this time was in a L-5, so low and slow.
Between November 1944 and the end of March 1945, he flew a total of 360 operational or combat missions, as recorded in the flight records that I have.

****Quick edit....Total number of operational missions between Nov. and Mar. was 360, not 36.********

 

[Frog]

Number of missions flown is going to vary by aircraft type flown as well. I just pulled the flight record for one of my uncles. He was flying in the 1st Air Commandos during his overseas time. January of 45 was an interesting month for him. He flew all 31 days of the month, of which 27 show operational mission flights. He flew 150 missions in those 27 days and 6 non operational flights on the other 4 days. January 11 had to have been something major going on as he flew 24 missions that day for a total of 5 hours and 45 minutes. All of this time was in a L-5, so low and slow.
Between November 1944 and the end of March 1945, he flew a total of 36 operational or combat missions, as recorded in the flight records that I have.

Late 1944 was the end of the monsoon in Burma.
Consequently by this date began intensive Allied offensives.

 

[yosimitesam]

Here's some interesting numbers that always overhung AAF in their quest to establish strategic bombing as a viable means of war. Here's a table of the worked out probabilities for percent survival ("made it back") calculated from the loss rate, number of missions, and simple probability. With a 3% loss rate, a crew had 50% chance (0.50 probability) of returning when they reached their 23rd mission or so. After that they had less than even chance of surviving the next mission. That's pretty stark and is the reason that the Memphis Belle's completion of 25 missions with an intact crew was heralded. The basic calculation assumes that the planes that don't return are chosen perfectly randomly, which is not always the case. Among both fighter pilots and bomber crews, in the first 10 or so missions for "green" pilots/crews the losses were dis-proportionally higher. The loss rate decreased some for the more experienced crews. Still, it took a lot of courage to keep flying after 10 or 15 missions. The calculation for the chart is:

nbr_missions = log(survival_probability)/log(1-loss_rate). For example: for 23 missions all, with a loss rate of 3% (.03), survival probability = (1-.03)^23 = (.97)^23 = .496 (50%)

 

[GreenKnight121]

Daniel S. Lopez Jr*, who flew with the 23rd Fighter Group in China in 1943-45, stated that the normal "go home" mission count was 100, although some flew more.

When he flew his 101st he was given a direct order to never fly another combat mission (the 23rd had recently lost Capt. James F Folmar flying his 121st mission), and was sent back to the US shortly afterwards.


* He was promoted to Captain on 1 January 1945, and left China 2 months later.