Losses due to tropical storms?

[robert_schulte]

First of all, I hope this is the right place to post that question.

The rather heavy hurricane season during the past few weeks makes me wonder, how many Allied or Axis planes or ships were lost due to hurricanes, tornadoes or other cyclones. Any Luftwaffe planes at all?
Are there any records about this or anything in a book? Anybody out there who knows an interesting story ?
Thanks in advance
Robert

[Graham Boak]

An interesting question - it might be worth adding volcanoes to your list as at least one unit of medium bombers was wiped out in a Vesuvius eruption - B-25s if I recall correctly.

Postwar, in the 1950s, the entire USAF fleet of navigational trainers (also B-25s) was damaged beyond economic repair by a hailstorm in the Mid-West. If I have confused the two events, and it was really Ju 88s that was affected by Vesuvius, then I apologise profusely!

There was a severe tropical storm that affected the Allied fleets in Japanese waters mid-1945. At least one US aircraft carrier suffered important structural damage so I doubt that its aircraft were unaffected. A number of British aircraft were lost from a light carrier in a storm during the Korean war, but that is also outside this board's reference.

[robert_schulte]

Hi Graham,
you are right, they were B-25s. I have some nice pictures of this.
I'd like to add volcanoes to my first post
Robert

[Jim P.]

There were a number of losses in the GQM reports attributable to storms on all fronts.

[John Beaman]

Don't forget the squadron of Avengers lost in "The Bermuda Triangle"...tropical weather or aliens?

The typhoon mentioned above almost cost Admiral Bill Halsey his command. Many ships were severely damaged and several lost. The concensus was, he should have sailed away from the storm's path but was negligent. That storm supposedly set a record that has never been bested: the lowest recorded atmospheric pressure: around 18 inches of mercury!

[Graham Boak]

I should also have added 615 Sq RAF, caught by a tropical storm in NW India in their Spitfire Mk.VIIIs. From memory half were lost - I'll try to find the time to dig it out but it is mentioned in most SEAC histories.

[Jim Oxley]

'The Forgotten Fifth', by Michael John Claringbould has quite a bit of detail on USAAF losses over New Guinea and the Philipines from 1942 to 1945.

He also co-wrote a book dealing with the worst weather loss the Fifth suffered titled 'Black Sunday' . It occurred on April16, 1944. In that storm the Fifth lost 37 aircraft (a mix of fighters and bombers).

Fire in the Sky, by Eric Bergerud also devotes a whole chapter to the effects of weather in the Pacific, and how it affected both the US and Japanese air forces.

[Laurent Rizzotti]

As for tropical storms/typhoons, the three worst during the war were on 13-14 Sep 1944 (E coast USA, 1 DD and several USCG ships lost, around 300 USN/USCG dead), 18 Dec 1944 (off Philippines, 3 US DD sunk, around 800 USN deads) and 3-4 Jun 1945 (again hit the Pacific Fleet, only some dead and no ship sunk but many damaged).

As for planes, weather losses were numerous during the war. The worst case for USAAF was as said before the 16 April 1944 (go on www.aerothentic.co, you will find a list of all the losses this day somewhere on the site). RAF suffered too but in its case the worst losses were suffered when fog covered England when a heavy Bomber Command returns. In at least 2 occurences (from memory one in 1941 and one during the battle of Berlin, tens of bombers and more than 100 lives were lost due to fog in one night.

In at least 3 occurences, whole fighter formations were lost due to weather:
_ the 615 Sqn over Bengal Bay
_ on Sep 1942, one Eagle Sqn (US unit in RAF) get deported by strong winds and finished over Britanny rather than England. One had turned back early, all 11 other were shot down or crashed out of fuel.
_ on 21 Oct 1944, a 7 P-47 formation flying back to its New Guinea base found a tropical storm front between it and its base and all pilots ditched. In this case all were saved the next days (whole story at
http://www.pbyrescue.com/Stories/p47_story.htm).

[Graham Boak]

The 131 (Eagle) squadron story is complicated by the delays caused by the bomber formation they were escorting, and the fighter pilots' reluctance to leave their compatriots unescorted. If we were to count every aircraft lost because of incorrect headwinds (assuming we could!) the list would be very much longer.

[Alex Smart]

Hello Graham,

On Friday ist June 1945 some 27 Fighters were lost due to severe storms in the Pasific, some 10 B29's were also lost, but I do not know if any were lost due to enemy action or all to the storm.
Here are some 24 of the P51's welcome to hear of the other three.

15th Fighter Group
44-63996
44-63972
44-63958
44-63965
4-63927
44-63950
44-63760
44-43422
44-72872

21st Fighter Group
44-63744
44-63337
44-63801
44-63962

506th Fighter Group
44-63930
44-72553
44-72562
44-72563
44-72572
44-72584
44-72593
44-72601
44-72607
44-72608
44-72885

Some of the above collided due to the weather.

All for now

Alex