Howdy, i have been searching for a thread i read a while back that touched on RAAF casualties compared to other Aussie WW2 casualtie's. Not being able to find it I have decided to place this here, It deals with RAAF KIA and WIA in WW2, I will post as much as possible though it may take a few days to complete. I also will find the POW numbers for RAAF WW2. The toatal Australian Military deaths in WW2 was over 39000, with another 30,000 prisoners. over 10,000 RAAF were killed` and 3000 WIA, Table A to E shows all major casualties(ie: Casualties that have been reported to the N.O.K) from 3rd Sept 1939 to 15th August 1945. Except for Illnesses not rsulting in death and 631 men who went missing but later returned safely. Table A (1) RAAF Casualties - Causes Air operations excluding know air accidents. 7082 Known Air Accidents 4496 Ground Battle 266 Ground Accidents and other causes 1568 Deaths from Illness 342 Total 13,754 RAAF Casualtie's - Type of Unit Operational Squadrons 8884 E>A>T>S Schools 1070 O.T.U.S and other flying schools. 1762 Other Units 2038 Total 13,754 RAAF Casualtie's - Musterings. Air Casualtie's Pilots 5131 Navigators 2312 W.A.G.S 2328 Air Gunners 1210 Technical Air Gunners 238 Ground Musterings 358 GROUND MUSTERINGS Air Crew 399 Ground Musterings 1778 total 13,754 RAAF Caualties - Catagories & Ranks Dead or presumed dead: Wounded: Total: Officers; 3760; 774; 4,534; Airmen; 6802; 2418; 9,220; TOTAL: 10562; 3192; 13,754; RAAF Casualties by areas to 15th August 1945 Deaths from illness in brackets. DIED: Injured; Total: Europe 5397 (26) 947 6344 Mid East 1135 (9) 413 1548 Canada 147 (5) 55 202 India Burma 242 (3) 89 331 Far East 136 44 180 Sth West Pacific 3,342 1614 4956(1) OPf a total of 1122 non flying personel who died 1009 were in sth west pacific. More to come soon.
Casualtie's to RAAF personel in European Theatre to 15th August 1945. DEAD Injured Bomber Command 3486: 265: Fighter Command 191: 49: Coastal Command 408: 113: Other forces and units 478: 151: OTU's and similar Schools. 724: 298: Other training Schools/units 110: 71:
RAAF Casualties by years. 1939. 18 1940. 128 1941. 850 1942. 3058 1943. 3798 1944. 4218 1945. 1684 Total Casualties Dead and wounded 13,754
Cobber, Well researched. I don't think the majority of Aussies (particularly the young) realise the extent of the RAAF's casualties. Bomber command took a beating. I think that is why "G for George" is so loved by the more senior members of the community. It represents a brave and under appreciated part of our military. GW
What I find the most depressing is the number of men killed while training at especially at OTU and of course all other flight schools.
True Cobber, A quick reply: As much as the training Commanders would have been concerned about safety, I'm sure they were being "pushed" from above to provide aircrew. Then they would have had the "youth" who would push themselves & equipment to enter the war, (before it was over), and they probably didn't have the best equipment, as it would have been needed at the front. However you are correct, death of our warriors at any time is sorrowful, but more so in training. Remember our SAS in the Black Hawks? Lest We Forget GW
Cobber, for the figures that were injured, are they those that then got invalided out? As the proportions seem rather small otherwise.
I am not sure Kyt, though I suspect you are right and it is those men who did not return to service again.
For instance, there were 147 Aussie lads killed in Canada. Only a handful were from action and another small percentage crashed on return from an operation. These lads are buried in all of 10 provinces of Canada.
My "deaths only" 1939-1945 amount to 10,835 with another 200 that were killed in the RAF and registered as UK deaths on the CWGC database. They are/were buried or memorialised in 65 countries. 1939 23 1940 140 1941 582 1942 2240 1943 3017 1944 3454 1945 1580 11036 1939 for example: There were 15 RAAF and 8 RAF. Leaving out the RAF (and two RAF from 1946) they look like this: RAAF RAF TOTAL 1939 - 23 - 8 - 15 1940 - 140 - 61 - 79 1941 - 582 - 30 - 552 1942 -2240 -24 -2216 1943 -3017 -32 -2985 1944 -3454 -34 -3420 1945 -1580 -9 -1571 11036 less 198 RAF = 10838
I think in my post the figures were all casualties for that year including wounded. Though you probably have more up to date figures than me I just cut and pasted and saved that about two years ago, I think it may be from the archives people, though i am not 100% sure off that.
I have stuck with only the deaths as the "inclusive" numbers are getting to high for me to work with and research. The above figure includes RAAF/RAF personal who flew with 460sq. Cheers Geoff
Unfortunately our numbers are slightly different, with Spidges numbers showing approximately a extra 200 RAAF dead, as i said i found it and saved it from somewhere, (Archives/AWM) (?). I would think that Spidges numbers are probably more correct than the ones i posted. Thanks to Spidge for the work he's doing as it will show people in the future the true figures which now appears to total around 11,000 Aussie Air Men dying in WW2. close to 1/4 of all Aussie military deaths in WW2. VALE
