Survivability %

[Mark Proulx]

Reading the book A Higher Call, which I am certain all aware of here. In there, I came across a statistic I have never noticed before. The author, Adam Makos, states that only 1200 pilots of the 28,000 German fighter pilots survived WW2. That is a survival percentage of 4.3%. He doesn't mention if this is the number attributed directly to combat or if it included losses during incarceration. So, there are some variables to consider I believe.

I am curious if that is a valid stat and if not, what would that percentage be?

Thoughts?

Mark Proulx

[Alfred.MONZAT]

Anything coming from "A higher Call" should be taken with a pinch of salt. That's just another unsubstantiated claim thrown by the book that many (the casual enthousiasts that are the target of this book) have taken as holy song.

There was already a thread on this: http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=36759

[Theo Boiten]

Interesting topic -I would be interested in any reliable statistics as to how many German airmen were trained during WWII to become Nachtjagd aircrew, and how many (percentage) were KIA/MIA/WIA. Any pointers welcome.

Cheers, Theo

[Mark Proulx]

Alfred:

Thanks for pointing out the earlier thread.

I am well aware of the "pinch of salt" background to the book, choosing to not read it. However, a recent extended flight to France left me with little choices as I needed something to read to pass the time.

Looking forward to other additional input...

Mark Proulx

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Even before considering casualties, defining how to count Luftwaffe fighter pilots will be difficult. Should Fw 190 pilots of SG units be counted ? What about the former bomber pilots of the KG (J) units ? And I guess the above number should include both day and night fighters.

Maybe the total number of men trained as pilots before and during WW2 is available, but I doubt that the number that eventually flew fighters will be known.

Still the number only 1200 surviving pilots seem very low for me. Just to take the example of JG 26, it has 237 pilots on 31 December 1944 according to Caldwell book (including III./JG 54 that was renamed later IV./JG 26). At least 36 pilots joined the Geschwader in 1945 (12 in January, 3 in February and 21 in March), 127 were killed (34 in January, 18 in February, 48 in March and 27 in April) and 12 were captured (8 in January, 3 in April and 1 in May). So out of at least 273 pilots members of JG 26 in 1945, 127 were killed and 146 were still alive on 8 May 1945, including 12 in Allied captivity.

Another statistic: the webpage http://users.accesscomm.ca/magnusfamily/ww2ger.htm lists 2867 German pilots who became aces in WWII (from JG, NJG, SG and KG units) (not counting possible duplicates and pilots listed but with only 4 victories). Of this number, 917 are listed as KIA, 340 as MIA, 155 as KIFA or KIC, 32 as DOW, 5 or 6 died as POW, 5 as killed without any detail, 3 died of other causes (gun discharge, disease), 2 may have died from wounds. So 1457-1460 Luftwaffe aces died during the war, but still at least 1407 survived according to this page. Just this number is over the 1200 pilots given in the book above... And it gives a survivability for German aces of close to 50%, so denying the common saying of German pilots flying until they were killed. Actually, German pilots could be sent to rest, to training units as instructors and so on. Of the survivors, 130 were captured, and 35 are listed as WIA, probably meaning their serious wounds excluded them from front service.

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Another example from the JG 300 book by Jean-Yves Lorant: JG 300 has 157 pilots on 1st April 1945 and lost until the end of the war 24 KIA and 12 MIA, including several unnammed pilots that may have survived. So more than 120 pilots of JG 300 survived the last weeks of the war, not counting all those that were wounded or captured before April. Lorant says he interwieved 134 veterans of JG 300 for writing his book.

[edwest2]

I hope the following helps:

According to the General Staff of the Wehrmacht the losses of the flight personnel until February 1945 amounted to:[88]

• KIA: 6,527 officers and 43,517 enlisted men
• WIA: 4,194 officers and 27,811 enlisted men
• MIA: 4,361 officers and 27,240 enlisted men

The reference is Hahn, Fritz. Waffen und Geheimwaffen des deutschen Heeres 1933–1945. Band I. Infanteriewaffen, Pionierwaffen, Artilleriewaffen, Pulver, Spreng- und Kampfstoffe — Koblenz: Bernard & Graefe Verlag, 1986 — ISBN 3-7637-5830-5

[Richard Aigner]

You may find some data in this dissertation "Die Luftwaffe im Kampf um die Luftherrschaft"
http://hss.ulb.uni-bonn.de/2005/0581/0581.pdf

[RSwank]

A book which has been mentioned before on this forum is Williamson Murray's
"Strategy for Defeat". It gets into some of this, particularly in chapter 8.

A version is on-line here:
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/AAF-Luftwaffe/