My dear air warfare experts? Have you got any precise idea (I have already forgotten) the numbers concerning pilot, aircraft and civilian losses during the whole "Battle of Britain" and the "Blitz"? I do not want to make numbers up...
I have some numbers for the Battle of Britain but not the Blitz ( we Brits separate the two, we view the Blitz as the Germans just trying to annoy us because we won the Battle of Britain ) Fighter Command lost 1023 aircraft during the BOB Bomber Command 376 Coastal Command 148 total 1,547 Fighter Command from the 10 July to the 31 October lost 544 pilots KIA. Bommand Command around the same period lost approx 801 KIA and nearly 200 taken prisoner. total 1,5470 The Luftwaffe in the same period lost 873 fighters of both types ( Bf 109 and Bf 110 ) 1,015 bombers of all types total 1,887 The losses in luftwaffe crew was a total of 2,698. It should be noted that in a lecture held in Berlin on the 2nd Feb 1944 the Intelligence officer of KG2, Hauptmann Otto Bechtle, showed that from August to December 1940 German fighter strength declined by 30% and bomber strength by 25%. In contrast RAF Fighter Command had an operational strength on the 6th June 1940 of 1,259 pilots. on the 2nd November it was 1,796 an increase of over 40%
Glad to see someone's minding the store, red. Martin will probably say he was on a mission Thank's for the other post on ships, cleared a few points up for me. No.9 [ 27. February 2003, 09:51 PM: Message edited by: No.9 ]
Civilian casualties in Great Britain : - ( Killed ) 3/9/39 - 6/9/40 : 1698 7/9/40 - 31/12/40 : 22,069 1941 : 19,918 1942 : 3,236 1943 : 2,327 1944 : 8,475 1/1/45 - 9/5/45 : 1,860 Northern Ireland : 967 Total : 60,595 Source : Civil Defence , HMSO Official War History, quoted in 'The Blitz : Then & Now Vol. 1 ). Casualties due to : Bombing : 51,509 Flying Bombs : 6,148 Rockets : 2,754 Cross-channel guns : 148 ( Source : The Defence of the United Kingdom Collier, Official War History )