Thread: Shoot-down question

Originally Posted by Silent Hunter

I'm reading an account of an RAF airfield in the Second World War and I'm noticing that a lot of the time the pilots bail out and return to duty.

So I'm wondering. What percentage approximately of aircraft shoot-downs (as in the aircraft being a write-off) result in one or all of the crew actually being killed?

Without parachutes, probably 95% to 98%. The remaining percentage of survivors would be from controlled crash landings where the plane was destroyed but the crew was able to roll out of and run like hell.

With parachutes being a standard item of issue, that percentage would certainly drop drastically. But I'll leave that to some historical bean counter to come up with those kinds of figures.

If we're including bombers (particularly of the WWII heavy and medium types) then the percentage that lost crew is going to unbelievably high.

Fun fact that I cant remember the source to: USAAF's 8th Air Force lost more personnel in WWII than the US Marine Corps.

Dang. That's rough.

Then ofcoarse factor in how many were strafed by their opponents even know the plane was gone and the were gliding towards the ground safely.

Originally Posted by Dreadnought

Then ofcoarse factor in how many were strafed by their opponents even know the plane was gone and the were gliding towards the ground safely.

waste of amo... why not cut the parachute with the top of the wing...?

my grand father was a bomber pilot in ww2, was shotdown twice, one time in sb, other time in a20, both times recovered, and flew to the end of the war, died only 3 years ago.

At first did not look very moral to me to strafe the pilots who parachuted from a crashing plane but than again ... what`s the difrence between a pilot and a infantry men or tankmen ?

At that moment, the pilot isn't in a position to shoot back. Once he or she's landed, they're fair game.

Originally Posted by bugs

At first did not look very moral to me to strafe the pilots who parachuted from a crashing plane but than again ... what`s the difrence between a pilot and a infantry men or tankmen ?

Off the top of my head, a few responses:

1-You already won the fight. The guy got shot down, you already got credit for the kill.

2-Infantry or tankers are on the ground doing their job. This guy isnt. If you strafe an airfield, that's one thing...this is different.

3-In many cultures there's an aspect of mutual respect. Yeah, you're trying to beat the other guy either by killing him or knocking his plane out of action, but there's no reason to be an a-hole about it.

3. Quite. Am I right in thinking that pilots prefer it when the enemy bails out?