We know the German subs and Kriegsmarine lost 40,000 men. However did the Allied Air Force lose up to 55,000 men in operations??
55,000 was roughly only RAF Bomber Command's KIA. Total Allied air forces KIA would be much higher. IIRC, the US 8th Air Force suffered over 26,000 KIA.
...I just read in Oct 2019 WWII Magazine: ...'''of the 38,0000 men who served in the Uboats in WW2, only 8000 survived. No other branch of any service of any nation suffered such a high casualty rate.''' ..I say ''just read'' because I get them from the library now ...what were the per capita losses of the KM and Allied air forces/US/Brits? -- ..I thought the 8th AF had more deaths than the entire USMC in WW2? Takao gives 26,000--USMC killed about 24,000?.....how many pilots and crewmen were there in the 8th AF?
It was unfortunate that once a bomber went down the g forces made it impossible to get out so the crew was practically lost.
Well, no, not really. RAF PoWs numbered slightly under 10,000. While USAAF numbered just over 41,000(35,600+ in ETO/MTO). The crew would be "practically lost" to G-forces only if the damage was such that aircraft entered into a spin.
....I would think a ''lot'' of the planes were not immediately beyond control/blown up/etc.....1 or 2 engines damaged......flaps damaged.....main fuselage hit/etc = giving crew time to bail out?
I am now wondering as to the relationship between night-bombing and survivability. As the RAF mainly practiced night-bombing but had significantly more KIA as opposed to PoW. While the 8th AF did mostly daylight bombing, but had significantly more PoW than KIA. Also, were American bombers easier to move around in/egress quickly?
Not sure if a B17 would be much easier. I can give you one example of a grouping that I have in my collection. The B17 usually had a crew of nine but on this one mission they had 2 extra (Group Bombardier and a Photographer) for a total of 11. They were flying at 23,000 FT when they took a direct hit from German Flak on the number 2 engine and wing area. The plane started to violently shudder and within 2minutes dropped to 16,000 FT and exploded. Only 4 survived, The navigator and bombardier who were blown out as they were leaving the forward hatch, tail gunner and side gunner. The side gunner who was trapped by the sudden force of the explosion and the tail gunner that broke away the plane. All survivors became POWs (This description came directly from VA file of the Navigator)