page_title: RAF Bomber Command
section_title: Casualties
hierarchical_section_title: RAF Bomber Command / Casualties
caption_attribution_description: English: Graphic representation of RAF Lancaster bombers used on the Dresden raid 1945.
context_page_description: RAF Bomber Command controlled the RAF's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968.
  Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bombing campaign against Germany became less restrictive and increasingly targeted industrial sites and the civilian manpower base essential for German war production. In total 364,514 operational sorties were flown, 1,030,500 tons of bombs were dropped and 8,325 aircraft lost in action. Bomber Command crews also suffered a high casualty rate: 55,573 were killed out of a total of 125,000 aircrew, a 44.4% death rate. A further 8,403 men were wounded in action, and 9,838 became prisoners of war.
  Bomber Command stood at the peak of its post-war military power in the 1960s, the V bombers holding the United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent and a supplemental force of Canberra light bombers.
  In August 2006, a memorial was unveiled at Lincoln Cathedral. A memorial in Green Park in London was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 June 2012 to highlight the price paid by the aircrews.
context_section_description: Allied bombing of German cities killed between 305,000 and 600,000 civilians. One of the most controversial aspects of Bomber Command during World War II was the area bombing of cities.  Until 1942 navigational technology did not allow for any more precise targeting than at best a district of a town or city by night bombing. All large German cities contained important industrial districts and so were considered legitimate targets by the Allies. New methods were introduced to create "firestorms". The most destructive raids in terms of casualties were those on Hamburg (45,000 dead) in 1943 and Dresden (25,000–35,000 dead)) in 1945. Each caused a firestorm and left tens of thousands dead. Other large raids on German cities which resulted in high civil casualties were Darmstadt (12,300 dead), Pforzheim (17,600 dead) and Kassel (10,000 dead).
  Regarding the legality of the campaign, in an article in the International Review of the Red Cross it was held that,
  In examining these events [aerial area bombardment] in the light of international humanitarian law, it should be borne in mind that during the Second World War there was no agreement, treaty, convention or any other instrument governing the protection of the civilian population or civilian property, as the conventions then in force dealt only with the protection of the wounded and the sick on the battlefield and in naval warfare, hospital ships, the laws and customs of war and the protection of prisoners of war.
  Bomber Command crews also suffered an extremely high casualty rate: 55,573 killed out of a total of 125,000 aircrew (a 44.4 percent death rate), a further 8,403 were wounded in action and 9,838 became prisoners of war.  This covered all Bomber Command operations including tactical support for ground operations and mining of sea lanes.
  A Bomber Command crew member had a worse chance of survival than an infantry officer in World War I; more people were killed serving in Bomber Command than in the Blitz, or the bombings of Hamburg or Dresden. By comparison, the US Eighth Air Force, which flew daylight raids over Europe, had 350,000 aircrew during the war and suffered 26,000 killed and 23,000 POWs. Of the RAF Bomber Command personnel killed during the war, 72 percent were British, 18 percent were Canadian, 7 percent were Australian and 3 percent were New Zealanders.
  Taking an example of 100 airmen:
  55 killed on operations or died as a result of wounds
  three injured (in varying levels of severity) on operations or active service
  12 taken prisoner of war (some wounded)
  two shot down and evaded capture
  27 survived a tour of operations
  In total 364,514 operational sorties were flown, 1,030,500 tons of bombs were dropped and 8,325 aircraft lost in action.
  Harris was advised by an Operational Research Section (ORS-BC) under a civilian, Basil Dickins, supported by a small team of mathematicians and scientists. ORS-BC (under Reuben Smeed) was concerned with analysing bomber losses. They were able to influence operations by identifying successful defensive tactics and equipment, though some of their more controversial advice (such as removing ineffectual turrets from bombers to increase speed) was ignored.
  The very high casualties suffered give testimony to the dedication and courage of Bomber Command aircrew in carrying out their orders. Statistically there was little prospect of surviving a tour of 30 operations and by 1943, one in six expected to survive their first tour and one in forty would survive their second tour. The overall loss rate for Bomber Command operations was 2.2 percent, but loss rates over Germany were significantly higher; from November 1943 – March 1944, losses averaged 5.1 percent. The highest loss rate (11.8 percent) was incurred on the Nuremberg raid (30 March 1944). The disparity in loss rates was reflected in the fact that, at times, Bomber Command considered making sorties over France only count as a third of an op towards the "tour" total and crews derisively referred to officers who only chose to fly on the less dangerous ops to France as "Françoi
caption: A diagram illustrating the actual number of aircraft used in the 13/14 February 1945 RAF night attack on Dresden with 753 Avro Lancasters in two waves, with nine Mosquitoes providing target marking
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