Analysing survival rates among Luftwaffe air crew in 'Steinbock' and other operations

[Tim O.]

Simon

It is a bit of an over-simplification but broadly speaking it is true to say that Commonwealth and US bomber crew served for a tour of typically 25 or 30 missions. They then often went off to instruct for anything up to a couple of years before doing a second tour and some went on to do three tours (or maybe more). German airmen typically continued to fly until they were killed or became instructors at the end of their careers, often when highly decorated. It is therefore not surprising that those that survived (and many who died) typically got both the EK2 and EK1 as they would have flown the equivalent of 4x, 10x or even more missions than might result in a DFC or DFM for a Commonwealth airman. Large-scale awards of the EK were also made for the conquests of Poland, France, Crete, etc. in recognition of unit successes. This explains at least in part why these awards were so commonly encountered.