TABLE 78.-Mean Strength of Air Force Personnel, European Theater of Operations January-June 1944)

Source: Care of Flyer Report, AF Form 203.

*Heavy bomber-Eighth Air Force Bomber Command.
**Fighters-Eighth and Ninth Air Force Fighter Commands.
#Medium bomber-Ninth Air Force Bomber Command.

men

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Table 78 shows the mean strength of Air Force personnel in the theater broken down according to total personnel, flying personnel, and combat personnel, and under each type of aircraft the data are further divided according to officers and enlisted men. This table reveals that 22 percent of heavy bomber personnel were flying personnel; 23 percent of medium bomber personnel were flying personnel; while only 6.5 percent of the fighter personnel were flying personnel. To explain the ratio of officers to enlisted men, so far as flying personnel were concerned, it should be pointed out that a heavy bomber crew consisted of three officers and three enlisted men, while only one officer was assigned to a fighter plane.

Casualty data are shown in Table 79 according to aircraft type, the type of casualty, and separately also for officers and enlisted men. These data show that the greatest number of casualties occurred in heavy bomber aircraft, with medium bomber personnel next, and fighter personnel showing the least number of casualties. A comparison of these data (Table 80) made on a rate per thousand per annum, showed the relative status of the casualties for each group. Officers in the heavy bomber aircraft had slightly fewer casual

TABLE 81.-Number of Battle Casualties (July 1944-December 1944)*

*All casualty figures are for the 4- or 5-week period ending the last Friday of the month. September

and December were 5-week periods; see other 4-week periods.

ties than enlisted men according to the ratio of officers to enlisted men in the crews. The casualties for officers and enlisted men in the medium bombers were practically the same.

The rate of casualties per thousand per annum is shown in Table 80. The total casualties for flying personnel were approximately twice as great in the heavy bombers as in the fighters, and approximately two and one-half times greater than for personnel of the medium bombers.

The table shows that the rates of killed in action and missing in action for flying personnel in heavy bomber aircraft were similar for officers and enlisted. men. The rates for the flying personnel in medium bomber aircraft killed in action were not similar for officers and enlisted men, the rate for officers being 47 and for enlisted men 69; however, the rates for the other categories of casualties in medium bomber aircraft were similar. The casualty rates for wounded in action or injured in action for heavy bomber personnel were much higher for enlisted men, being 405 for enlisted men and 219 for officers. This

TABLE 82.-Rate of Battle Casualties, per 10,000 Combat Crew Members Dispatched, Eighth Air Force (July 1944-December 1944)*

*All casualty figures are for 4- or 5-week period ending the last Friday of the month. September and December were 5-week periods; all others 4-week periods.

**Initial rates using 9-man crews.