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From: "Byker" <byker@do~rag.net>
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Subject: Re: Air Force Museum Unveils Restored Memphis Belle
Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2018 14:46:58 -0500
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"Stormin' Norman" wrote in message
news:gs5lidha7jdaf3oicl3ad4tbnk5i94uh6a@4ax.com...
>
> Following a 13-year restoration effort, the National Museum of the United
> States Air Force (NMUSAF) in Dayton, Ohio, publicly unveiled the newly
> restored Boeing B-17F Memphis Belle on May 17, 2018, exactly 75 years
> after its crew completed its historic 25th bombing mission over
> Nazi-controlled Europe in 1943. The subject of a World War II bond tour
> and several full-length feature films, the Belle became an American icon
> as the first B-17 Flying Fortress to achieve the 25 combat mission mark
> over occupied Europe and return to the United States without a crewmember
> killed...... (more)
Before you get too misty-eyed:
http://pippaettore.com/Horrific_WWII_Statistics.html
"After analysis, they realized the loss rate was 4% per sortie, tour was 25
sorties, and pilots found reasons to not go over the target."
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2sqy7s/did_american_bomber_crews_in_wwii_really_get_to/
If 96% of the bombers make it back each time, after 25 sorties 36% would be
left. In the beginning, the tour of duty in 8AF was 25 missions, then later
that number increased to 30, then 35. I don't know what was it at the end of
the war.
Interesting thread:
http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php/5862-Survival-rate-of-the-US-and-UK-strategic-bomber-crews?s=c4c57cb692d4af91ff887f5c70681269
“'My favorite memory; my last mission. I knew I was done and everything was
okay,” said Perrone. “I was more scared on my last mission than my first.'
Perrone considers himself lucky, only one in five aircrew members of the 8th
AF made the quota to end their tour of duty."
https://www.sofmag.com/bombs-away-wwii-heavy-bombers-war-its-a-young-mans-game/
The RAF had it even worse. It was not uncommon for more British airmen to
die in the air than Germans on the ground:
https://www.quora.com/Why-was-the-fatality-rate-so-high-at-RAF-Bomber-Command-during-World-War-Two
During World War II, 143 U.S. Army Air Forces aircraft made unscheduled
arrivals in neutral Sweden, 69 of them B-17 Flying Fortresses. Rumors
persisted that not all of them were too battle-damaged to make it back to
base: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=853Om16oTPk
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