[Simon Trew]

Thanks Adriano,

I had a quick look at Middlebrook (& Everitt) before I posted. He/they say that 47,268 Bomber Command air crew were killed in action or (I guess a fairly small number) died as prisoners of war. Against this, there were 9838 prisoners of war.

Superficially, that suggests that about 1 in 6 Bomber Command air crew survived the loss of their aircraft and became prisoners, although if some thousands of the dead actually died in crashes NOT over enemy territory (i.e. over the North Sea or UK) then it might be more like 1 in 5.5.

As far as I can tell (my figures are not precise and I doubt it is possible to come up with absolutely accurate data), around 900 Luftwaffe air crew died during 'Steinbock' (just on operations - at least another 125 died in accidents, transfer flights, training sorties that went wrong and Allied attacks on bomber geschwader airfields). If 130 survived to become prisoners, that suggests that about 12% (or 1 in 8) of the Luftwaffe's 'irrecoverable losses' during Steinbock survived to become prisoners.

So a very superficial comparison suggests that for the war as a whole (there must have been some significant differences between different bomber campaigns, as well - as you indicate - some differences between survival rates for different aircraft), 1 in 5.5 RAF Bomber Command air crew survived the experience of having their aircraft destroyed over enemy-held territory and became prisoners, whereas about 1 in 8 Luftwaffe air crew involved in Steinbock did so.

One can speculate on reasons for this. It's evident that quite a few Steinbock air crew had the misfortune to come down in the English Channel or North Sea, and I suspect that in January or February 1944 that was pretty much lethal (though a few seem to have been rescued both by the British and Germans). So they survived the loss of their plane but not the bit that followed. I also imagine (I've never tried it) that landing by parachute at night is more dangerous than during daylight. That might explain some of the difference too (bearing in mind Bomber Command's various day-time raids at various points in the war). It might also be relevant in the context of comparing USAAF bomber air crew losses with RAF Bomber Command and Luftwaffe ones.

Another thing that might be relevant is parachute failure. There are certainly accounts in the British intelligence sources of finding the bodies of Steinbock air crew who managed to bale out, but whose parachutes failed them. More research needed here too.

I agree that it would be interesting to compare survival rates for various types of German bomber, and I'll try to do that. I'm also working out whether survival rates differed according to where one sat in the plane and the job one did. I would imagine that being the pilot reduced one's chances, as these people often needed to (or chose to) stay with their stricken aircraft in order to give their crew mates the chance to bale out. Having said that, there are certainly pilots among the 130 Steinbock prisoners and at least one case where the only person who survived from the crew was the pilot.

I'd be interested to hear if you recall the source that relates to Halifax / Lancaster / Stirling survival rates.

Any equivalent data about USAAF heavy bomber crews, comparable to Middlebrook's about RAF Bomber Command, would also be interesting.

Thanks again for the suggestions and thoughts.

Simon