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Army Air Forces
Statistical Digest
World War II
Prepared by
Office of Statistical Control
December 1945
Preface
THE ARMY AIR FORCES STATISTICAL DIGEST (WORLD WAR II), published by the Office of Statistical Control, Headquarters, Army Air Forces, makes available in one volume and on a uniform basis summary statistics on AAF personnel, aircraft, equipment, combat operations and other activities during World War II.
Sines March 1942, the Offices of Statistical Control has been charged with the responsibility for collecting, processing, analyzing and presenting statistics on all phases of AAF strength and activity. It has been the practice to make these data available to interested offices in the form of recurring and special reports. The summary statistics published in this volume were derived from these reports and from the more detailed information available in the files of the Office of Statistical Control.
Unless otherwise indicated, the statistics cover the strength and operations of the Army Air Forces only. In a few cases where combinations have been made with other Army and Navy figures, the coverage and character of the data have been clearly noted. While most of the statistics included here are monthly for the period Pearl Harbor to V-J Day, a few important series are carried back for a longer period.
The detailed statistics on AAF strength and operations collected during World War II were used in analyses and studies far the Commanding General, Army Air Forces, and staff officers at all echelons of command. Many relationships were derived from, and analytical uses made of, these basic statistics during World War II. For example as a result of a detailed study of the ratios of heavy bomber crews to heavy bomber airplanes in the European and Mediterranean Theaters of Operations in the fall of 1944, heavy bomber crews were transferred from ETO to MTO in order to achieve greater balance in both theaters. To cite another example, usage data such as gasoline consumption, bomb tonnage dropped and airplane losses were related to operating data like flying time and combat sorties to compute planning factors upon which supply requirements were based. A study of bomb tonnage dropped in 1943 indicated that planned production would be considerably in excess of potential future bomb consumption computed on the basis of available airplanes, their bomb-carrying capacity and their estimated rate of use, plus a liberal allowance for strategic reserves. To put it another way, bomb production was out of balance with the other elements in the Air Forces program. Based on this analysis, planned bomb production was decreased, yielding a saving of several billion dollars.
The sources of all of the figures in the volume, unless otherwise noted, were the standardized statistical reports instituted by the Office of Statistical Control. These reports, originating at group and base levels, moved up through all the echelons of command to AAF Headquarters, and enabled statistical offices at each level to prepare consolidated reports for their organizations. The final consolidation prepared at the top echelon of command, than, constituted an over-all report of the world-wide AAF.
To facilitate the use of this volume it has been divided into the following sections, each covering a specific phase of Air Force activity:
Combat Groups
Personnel, Training and Crews
Aircraft and Equipment
Operations
Miscellaneous
Budget and Fiscal
Air Transport
Flying Safety
Installations
Housing
The tables in each section are preceded by an introductory statement, giving some indication of the purposes for which the data were originally gathered, the history and methods of compilation of the data, specific sources and examples of analytical uses of the figures. In addition, notations pertaining to several tables in the section have been included in the introductory statement rather than in footnotes to separate tables. Another saving in footnotes to specific tables has been made by the inclusion in the volume of a Glossary of definitions of terms peculiar to the Army Air Forces.
Overseas theaters, as used in this volume, have included the following Air Farces for the periods indicated unless specific exception is noted:
European Theater of Operations (ETO)--Eighth Air Force and Ninth Air Force beginning October 1943.
Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO)--Twelfth and Fifteenth Air Forces; Ninth Air Force prior to October. 1943.
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Pacific Ocean Areas (POA)--Seventh Air Force prior to July 1945 and Air Forces in Middle Pacific (AIRFORMIDPAC) beginning July 1945.
Far East Air Forces (FEAF)--Fifth and Thirteenth Air Forces and Seventh Air Force beginning July 1945.
China and India-Burma (C&I-B)--Tenth and Fourteenth Air Forces.
Alaska--Eleventh Air Force.
Twentieth Air Force--II and XXI Bomber Commands. The terms "Twentieth Air Force", "XI Bomber Command" and "XXI Bomber Command" are retained in July and August 1945 even though they were changed to "United States Army Strategic Air Forces (USASTAF)", "Eighth Air Force" and "Twentieth Air Force", respectively, beginning July 1945.
Other Overseas--primarily Sixth Air Force, Antilles Air Command, Bermuda, Greenland, Iceland, Newfoundland, the Azores, United States Air Forces in South America (USAFSA), United States Air Forces in the Middle East (USAFIME), Army Airways Communications System (AACS), Commanding General, Army Air Forces, overseas and Air Transport Command overseas unless shown separately.
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List of Tables