1 GROUP
SORTIES AND LOSSES
Battles – 287 sorties, 6 aircraft lost (2.1 percent)
Wellingtons – 12,170 sorties, 395 aircraft lost (3.2 percent)
Halifaxes – 137 sorties, 12 aircraft lost (8.8 percent)
Lancasters – 43,836 sorties, 1,016 aircraft lost (2.3 percent)
Total
56,430 sorties, 1,429 aircraft lost (2.5 percent) At least 199 Lancasters were destroyed in crashes; other types not known.
Everitt, Chris; Middlebrook, Martin (2014-04-02). The Bomber Command War Diaries : An Operational Reference Book (Kindle Locations 15015-15021). Pen and Sword. Kindle Edition.
2 GROUP
SORTIES AND LOSSES
Blenheims – 11,311 sorties, 421 aircraft lost (3.7 percent)
Bostons – 1,215 sorties, 41 aircraft lost (3.4 percent) Fortresses – 52 sorties, 3 aircraft lost (4.0 percent)
Mosquitoes – 793 sorties, 40 aircraft lost (5.0 percent)
Venturas – 868 sorties, 31 aircraft lost (3.6 percent)
Mitchells – 221 sorties, 6 aircraft lost (2.7 percent) Total – 14,460 sorties, 542 aircraft lost (3.7 percent)
At least 78 Blenheims, 3 Bostons and 1 Ventura were destroyed in crashes; other types not known.
Everitt, Chris; Middlebrook, Martin (2014-04-02). The Bomber Command War Diaries : An Operational Reference Book (Kindle Locations 15021-15029). Pen and Sword. Kindle Edition.
3 GROUP
SORTIES AND LOSSES
Wellingtons – 20,584 sorties, 608 aircraft lost (3.0 percent)]
Stirlings – 15,895 sorties, 577 aircraft lost (3.6 percent)
Lancasters – 26,462 sorties, 380 aircraft lost (1.4 percent)
Other types (mostly on Resistance and R.C.M. operations) – 3,672 sorties, 103 aircraft lost (2.8 percent)
Total – 66,613 sorties, 1,668 aircraft lost (2.5 percent) At least 227 Stirlings and 78 Lancasters were destroyed in crashes; other types not known.
Everitt, Chris; Middlebrook, Martin (2014-04-02). The Bomber Command War Diaries : An Operational Reference Book (Kindle Locations 15029-15035). Pen and Sword. Kindle Edition.
4 GROUP
SORTIES AND LOSSES
Whitleys – 9,169 sorties, 288 aircraft lost (3.1 percent)
Wellingtons – 2,901 sorties, 97 aircraft lost (3.3 percent)
Halifaxes – 45,337 sorties, 1,124 aircraft lost (2.5 percent)
Total – 57,407 sorties, 1,509 aircraft lost (2.6 percent) No reliable figures for aircraft destroyed in crashes are available.
Everitt, Chris; Middlebrook, Martin (2014-04-02). The Bomber Command War Diaries : An Operational Reference Book (Kindle Locations 15036-15041). Pen and Sword. Kindle Edition.
5 GROUP
SORTIES AND LOSSES
Hampdens – 15,771 sorties, 417 aircraft lost (2.6 percent)
Manchesters – 1,185 sorties, 69 aircraft lost (5.8 percent)
Lancasters – 52,262 sorties, 1,389 aircraft lost (2.7 percent)
Mosquitoes – 1,133 sorties, 13 aircraft lost (1.1 percent)
Mustangs – 6 sorties, no aircraft losses
Total – 70,357 sorties, 1,888 aircraft lost (2.7 percent) At least 28 Manchesters and 253 Lancasters were destroyed in crashes; other types not known.
Everitt, Chris; Middlebrook, Martin (2014-04-02). The Bomber Command War Diaries : An Operational Reference Book (Kindle Locations 15041-15047). Pen and Sword. Kindle Edition.
6 (CANADIAN) GROUP
SORTIES AND LOSSES
Wellingtons – 3,287 sorties, 127 aircraft lost (3.9 percent)
Halifaxes – 28,126 sorties, 508 aircraft lost (1.8 percent)
Lancasters – 8,171 sorties, 149 aircraft lost (1.8 percent)
Total – 39,584 sorties, 784 aircraft lost (2.0 percent) At least 56 Lancasters were destroyed in crashes; other types not known.
Everitt, Chris; Middlebrook, Martin (2014-04-02). The Bomber Command War Diaries : An Operational Reference Book (Kindle Locations 15048-15053). Pen and Sword. Kindle Edition.
8 (PATHFINDER FORCE) GROUP
SORTIES AND LOSSES
Wellingtons – 305 sorties, 17 aircraft lost (5.6 percent)
Halifaxes – 2,106 sorties, 77 aircraft lost (3.7 percent)
Stirlings – 826 sorties, 37 aircraft lost (4.5 percent)
Lancasters – 19,601 sorties, 444 aircraft lost (2.3 percent)
Total heavies – 22,838 sorties, 575 aircraft lost (2.5 percent) Mosquitoes – 28,215 sorties, 100 aircraft lost (0.4 percent)
Total of all types – 51,053 sorties, 675 aircraft lost (1.3 percent) The operations of 1409 (Meteorological) Flight are included in the Mosquito total. At least 12 Stirlings and 72 Lancasters were destroyed in crashes; other types not known.
Everitt, Chris; Middlebrook, Martin (2014-04-02). The Bomber Command War Diaries : An Operational Reference Book (Kindle Locations 15054-15062). Pen and Sword. Kindle Edition.
100 (BOMBER SUPPORT) GROUP
SORTIES AND LOSSES
R.C.M. Operations
Halifaxes – 3,383 sorties, 23 aircraft lost (0.7 percent)
Fortresses – 1,465 sorties, 4 aircraft lost (0.3 percent)
Stirlings – 1,235 sorties, 13 aircraft lost (1.1 percent)
Liberators – 615 sorties, 3 aircraft lost (0.5 percent)
Wellingtons – 589 sorties, 1 aircraft lost (0.2 percent)
Mosquitoes – 544 sorties, 1 aircraft lost (0.2 percent)
Lightnings – 101 sorties, 2 aircraft lost (2.0 percent)
Total – 7,932 sorties, 47 aircraft lost (0.6 percent)
Serrate and Intruder Operations
Beaufighters – 12 sorties, no aircraft losses
Mosquitoes – 8,802 sorties, 75 aircraft lost (0.9 percent)
Total – 8,814 sorties, 75 aircraft lost (0.9 percent)
Total of all types – 16,746 sorties, 122 aircraft lost (0.7 percent) The number of aircraft destroyed in crashes is not known.
Everitt, Chris; Middlebrook, Martin (2014-04-02). The Bomber Command War Diaries : An Operational Reference Book (Kindle Locations 15063-15075). Pen and Sword. Kindle Edition.
TRAINING UNITS
Bomber Command contained a considerable number of its own training units, in which airmen who had received a basic training in their respective speciality – pilots, navigators (earlier known as observers), wireless operators, air gunners, bomb aimers (officially ‘air bombers’) and flight engineers – were gathered together for crew training at O.T.U.s (Operational Training Units) and, for those crews intended for four-engined aircraft, at H.C.U.s (Heavy Conversion Units). Many of these training units dispatched aircraft on active-service operations. Most of the O.T.U. flights were by pupil crews which carried out a short sortie to a target in Northern France just before finishing their training courses at the O.T.U.; most of these flights only carried leaflets. The H.C.U. operations were mainly flown by mixed crews of pupils and instructors in 1942, when training aircraft were added to Bomber Command’s Main Force for the Thousand-Bomber Raids and for other major raids. The O.T.U.s also contributed to the 1942 Main Force raids, but more instructors than pupils provided the crews on these occasions. Most of the operational flights by training units ceased after the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, but O.T.U.s and H.C.U.s sometimes provided aircraft for diversionary sweeps over the North Sea and over France in 1944 and 1945; details of these sweeps, however, are not included in the statistics below because the German lines were never crossed, although there were occasional losses on the sweeps. Twenty-four O.T.U.s and eight H.C.U.s sent crews on operations: O.T.U.s Wellingtons – 3,270 sorties, 95 aircraft lost (2.9 percent) Whitleys – 558 sorties, 18 aircraft lost (3.2 percent) Hampdens – 240 sorties, 7 aircraft lost (2.9 percent) Total – 4,068 sorties, 120 aircraft lost (2.9 percent) H.C.U.s Stirlings – 73 sorties, 5 aircraft lost (6.8 percent) Halifaxes – 58 sorties, 4 aircraft lost (6.9 percent) Lancasters – 36 sorties, 4 aircraft lost (11.1 percent) Total – 167 sorties, 13 aircraft lost (7.8 percent) 27 O.T.U., which trained Australian aircrew at Lichfield, flew the most sorties – 384 Wellington sorties, losing 7 aircraft. 15 O.T.U. at Harwell and 10 O.T.U. at Abingdon flew 331 sorties with 8 losses and 318 sorties with 8 losses respectively. Twenty-one other O.T.U.s and eight H.C.U.s also flew operations.
Everitt, Chris; Middlebrook, Martin (2014-04-02). The Bomber Command War Diaries : An Operational Reference Book (Kindle Locations 15076-15097). Pen and Sword. Kindle Edition.