Returning bombers and ambulances?

Just curious. We have all seen bombers returning from Germany in films night and day. Was there a "usual" number of ambulances per bomber number waiting for the return? There were always wounded crew members anyway. AA or nachtjagd. Thanx for any info.

 

These really good questions. I haven't seen much on the medical support for RAF Bomber bases. The USAAC may be better referenced.

I dont think that isn't something I have seen.

According to wikipedia, a total of 364,514 operational sorties were flown by Bomber Command and 8,325 aircraft lost in action. Bomber Command aircrews suffered a high casualty rate: of a total of 125,000 aircrew, 57,205 were killed (a 46 percent death rate), a further 8,403 were wounded in action and 9,838 became prisoners of war.

About the same number of aircraft were lost as returned wounded - the majorities of the casualties were dead or PW and did not come back. One aircraft was lost for every 45 operational sorties which was about the same number of wounded men. Probably not more than one or two ambulances at an airfield would be enough.

 

Wow! That seems quite detailed although in the beginning it says the european theatre is not complete. Must leave it for the weekend to start reading it. But the number of pages shows the whole operation was not just putting some bandage over wounds but a huge train waiting for planes...

 

Thankfully the text is divided to the European and Mediterranean theatres. I was already shocked seeing there was some 1000 pages of text. The medical personnel and their actions must have developed greatly during the war but we' ll see about that. If I recall correctly from nachtjagd books the Allied considered some 5% losses per mission acceptable. Bigger losses would be too high in the long run.