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Post by okla on Mar 21, 2011 7:51:22 GMT 8
Viewing the History Channel today, I saw a fact confirmed that I had heard or read years ago. This being that the Britain based 8th US Air Force had more people killed than did the USMC during all of the Pacific War. When one thinks of the horrendous losses suffered by the Marines at Iwo Jima, etc it is rather difficult to conceive, but as this program explained, when losing even 10 B-17s with their crew of 10, day after day, the 8th's totals would escalate rapidly. A hundred men day after day becomes a horrific "butcher's bill". Even my limited mastery of Math can readily see a thousand men in a week would translate into a bloody mess as time went on. The Marines after one of their patented "blood baths" suffered while taking a heavily fortified Japanese occupied island would go into 'rest and refit" mode for a period of time before going into the fray once again. The 8th just kept banging away, losing 10 men every time a bomber went down. I would think that the Marines suffered many more wounded than did the Airmen. When a Fortress or Liberator went down, if a crewman didn't hit the silk, he probably perished. Countless wounded Gyrenes and combat infantrymen survived to tell their grandchildren "war stories". Wounded airmen more often than not probably rode their aircraft to earth. Just another military history item that caught my wandering eye. Cheers.
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Post by chadhill on Apr 4, 2011 9:30:31 GMT 8
Okla, would you believe that over 15,000 US airmen were killed in training accidents during the war? That's a staggering statistic, too.
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Post by okla on Apr 4, 2011 21:30:26 GMT 8
Hey Chad...If you said it, I believe it. It's a risky business. You might not believe this, but way back in early 1952 I took the preliminary tests for pilot/observer/navigator training. To show how goofy I evidently was/am, I flunked the Observer/Navigator portion, but passed the Pilot test with flying colors. I was waiting to go for the more rigorous physical exams when a shipment of guys for Korea was being put together, and like the 19 year old genius that I was, I volunteered for the shipment to frozen Chosen. I even persuaded a buddy of mine, a fellow Oklahoman, who labored in Personnel, to move my name up on the list to insure that I would be included for the movement to FEAF. It's thinking, such as this, that makes me wonder why they now permit people under 21 years of age the right to vote. The word was that the relaxing of the usually more strict requirements that was always the case was because the USAF was in dire need of B-26 (not the old WW 2 Martin Marauder) pilots for Korea. If that was the case the conflict there would probably have been over before I could have deployed (assuming that I hadn't been taken out in one of those accidents of which we speak). One of my buddies who took the tests with me, "washed out" when he piled up a T-33 at Sherman-Dennison AFB. A risky business, indeed. Cheers.
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