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How many American pilots actually engaged in combat compared to the RAF?, during the BoB and likewise over France and Malta RAF pilots were in combat numerous times a day when the Luftwaffe was at its peak.Without having any data at hand, it seems to me that I have read of a great many more cases of RAF fighter pilots being wounded or injured in combat than I have read of US fighter pilots being wounded or injured in combat.
No British roundels?View attachment 789790
Clive ''Killer'' Caldwell and his Spitfire MkVIII. German Japanese Italian kills.
Caldwell was Australian - as tempting as it may have been, he avoided shooting them down.No British roundels?
2 pics of him and plane, no victory markingsI believe you are talking about this gentleman:
I have never seen a picture of his aircraft that displayed any victory credits. IIRC because he fought for both sides, he was rather quiet about talking about his combats.
Eagledad
How many American pilots actually engaged in combat compared to the RAF?, during the BoB and likewise over France and Malta RAF pilots were in combat numerous times a day when the Luftwaffe was at its peak.
In the early days of U.S. involvement, the sorties flown per day was more than is commonly known.Actually, quite a lot. Go off and aggregate USAAF, USN, and USMC pilot numbers, and get back to us with comparative numbers for RAF and FAA numbers.
Much as it might pain you to admit, we Americans actually did fight in that war.
One such example, would be the Battle of Midway, where the defenders kept attacking the Japanese throughout the day.
Another would be the Cactus Airforce operations on Guadalcanal and so on.
It is true that the U.S. was late to the shooting, but that does not mean that they had it easy.
I do not think that Pat303 means disrespect.Look at the Eighth Air Force. 10-11 men per ship, anywhere from 150 to 1200 bombers per raid depending on the time frame. Now factor in the admittedly short-ranged escorts, there's another couple hundred. Now consider the USN: 3, then 2, then 1, then 15 carriers carrying between 36 and 90 aircraft. Oh, let's not forget the 500-600 B-29s flying from the Marianas, carrying nine or ten men apiece.
This belittling of an ally's effort from some quarters is irksome. We fought shoulder-to-shoulder then, but somehow some folk needs must claim some sort of high ground? Jesus Christ, they all flew, fought, suffered and died. Playing Top Trumps with them is really rather sad.
And let's be honest; anyone belittleling American efford in ww2 is, and will be forever, a colossal idiot.
And more likely then not, a little ugly on the side
I do not think that Pat303 means disrespect.
I read it this: there is lots of talk over the losses and suffering on the RAF part. Legends were created in the books etc. But what if we compared those losses against those of the usaaf. Was it that much worse? Or are the USAAF guys getting a bit short changed?
To me that is an interessting question.
And lets be honest; anyone belittleling American efford in ww2 is, and will be forever, a colossal idiot.
And more likely then not, a little ugly on the side
I cant get to my usaaf survey of losses at the moment but i hope G Geoffrey Sinclair can chime in with his wonderfull numbers work.
Thank you for that. There are variations in the collection and collation of such information so one has to allow a small tolerance in the comparisons so the end result is really that there was little difference to be noted. Which is very much as one should expect over such a large amount of data over the whole period which will average out (apologies to statisticians) the variations in the practices and situations over time and place.Some high level figures for comparison.
According to CWCG, about 125,000 RAF (and associated Air Forces) personnel lost their lives during WW2. In comparison, the USAAF lost about 318,000 killed (according to the National WW2 Museum).
As a percentage of populations as of 1940, that equates to 0.24% for the US and 0.20% for the UK plus Canada, Australia and New Zealand (calculations for the British Empire are inherently challenging so I took the numbers for the 4 (arguably) most aligned Commonwealth countries).
In comparison, the USAAF lost about 318,000 killed (according to the National WW2 Museum).
I've seen some sites that confuse deaths, or killed with casualty as if they're interchangeable terms.
There was a French ace with German, British, and American victories on his board.
The USAAF lost more killed, wounded, and captured than the entire USN and USMC put together.How many American pilots actually engaged in combat compared to the RAF?