[Iris7]

A little known statistic is that 25% of all of the Navy men who took a submarine war cruise against the Japanese were killed by enemy action. This is an especially large number since the Navy made a great effort to relieve submarine sailors of combat duty before they were lost. The men would insist on going out with their ship, knowing the odds against them, and not come back.

I don't believe that even the 8th Air Force bomber crew had anything like this death rate. I could be wrong.

The English night bombing crewmen had a worse death rate, by the way. They had something like a one in thirty loss per mission on the average, two or three missions a week, and a thirty mission tour. Then a ten week stint in Training Command, and then another tour of bombers. Do three tours and you were done. Some made it, nerve a little shaken. This was in '43 and the first half of '44.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Iris7. You were first one in today!!!

I didn't know that the figures of loss were so high on WWII submarines. I do know that the B-17 bombers we were flying in Europe had high odds of loss. They needed to complete 25 missions yet odds were against them. Sam and I just watched the History Channels Heavy Metal show on B-17's. I know he will know more about the 8th Air Force than I do. This is what I found.

"Some interesting facts about the 8th Air Force. The average life of a B-17 bomber and crew was 15 missions. From August 17, 1942 to May 8, 1945, the 8th Air Force had the following statistics:

Personnel missing in action: 39,007; personnel killed in action: 2,818; B-17s lost: 4,754; B-24s lost: 2,112."

[SAMWolf]

Morning Iris7.

One reason submarine crew casualties were high was because subs sunk while submerged usually lost the entire crew. It was very rare for anyone to escape from a sub that wasn't on the surface.