Old MacDonald
Airman
- 52
- Mar 27, 2018
I'm confused about USAAF European/Mediterranean sortie credit rules and what was required for flyers to complete their combat tours. I've looked on this site and on the web in general but found no conclusive information.
In 8th AF, it appears 25 combat missions (25 credited sorties) was initially required, later 30, and perhaps even more later than that.
But I'm really confused about sortie credit and combat tour requirements. This has two components: 1) why did some targets (or missions) result in the airmen receiving credit for TWO sorties (at least in 15th AF), while other targets were worth only one sortie; and 2), what was required to complete a tour and go home.
For 15th, I've read in various places that 25 "missions" (presumably credited sorties), more than 25 missions, 300 combat mission hours, 250 combat mission hours, and a couple other similar counting mechanisms were used to calculate when a combat tour was finished.
I know from one 15th AF bomber airman's official sortie listing that from Feb to Aug 1944 he was credited with 37 missions, 50 sorties, and 250:00 combat hours. The following targets in his list were listed as double sortie credits:
Based on this one man's mission/sortie/hours official log, I can guess that 15th during this period reequired either 250:00 combat hours or 50 combat sorties for the flyer to complete his combat tour and go home--but that's just a guess!
Can you shed any light on the 8th & 9th/12th/15th definitions of a combat sortie and requirements to finish a tour? Were bomber and fighter missions/sorties/hours counted differently?
Perplexed,
Ole' Mac
In 8th AF, it appears 25 combat missions (25 credited sorties) was initially required, later 30, and perhaps even more later than that.
But I'm really confused about sortie credit and combat tour requirements. This has two components: 1) why did some targets (or missions) result in the airmen receiving credit for TWO sorties (at least in 15th AF), while other targets were worth only one sortie; and 2), what was required to complete a tour and go home.
For 15th, I've read in various places that 25 "missions" (presumably credited sorties), more than 25 missions, 300 combat mission hours, 250 combat mission hours, and a couple other similar counting mechanisms were used to calculate when a combat tour was finished.
I know from one 15th AF bomber airman's official sortie listing that from Feb to Aug 1944 he was credited with 37 missions, 50 sorties, and 250:00 combat hours. The following targets in his list were listed as double sortie credits:
- Bad Voslau, Austria
- Bucharest, Romania
- Fiume, Italy
- Friedrichshafen, Germany
- Linz, Austria
- Maybach, Germany
- Moosbierbaum, Austria
- Munich Germany
- Odertal, Germany
- Ploesti, Romania
- Steyr, Austria
- Szeged, Hungary
Based on this one man's mission/sortie/hours official log, I can guess that 15th during this period reequired either 250:00 combat hours or 50 combat sorties for the flyer to complete his combat tour and go home--but that's just a guess!
Can you shed any light on the 8th & 9th/12th/15th definitions of a combat sortie and requirements to finish a tour? Were bomber and fighter missions/sorties/hours counted differently?
Perplexed,
Ole' Mac