Sorties and Losses, R.A.F. Bomber Command (1939-45)

	Sorties			Missing			Crashed
	Night	Day	Total	Night	Day	Total	Night	Day	Total	Daily Sorties	Total Losses	Loss Rate
1939	170	163	333	4	29	33	6	2	8	2.8	41	12.3
September	83	40	123	2	12	14	3	-	3	4.4	17	13.8
October	32	-	32	2	-	2	2	-	2	1.0	4	12.5
November	15	4	19	-	-	-	1	-	1	0.6	1	5.3
December	40	119	159	-	17	17	-	2	2	5.1	19	11.9

1940	17,493	3,316	20,809	340	152	492	150	8	158	56.9	650	3.1
January	38	6	44	-	-	-	-	-	-	1.4	-	0.0
February	54	4	58	1		1	2	-	2	2.0	3	5.2
March	239	53	292	3	1	4	6	-	6	9.4	10	3.4
April	489	167	656	18	15	33	8	-	8	21.9	41	6.3
May	1,617	802	2,419	21	49	70	3	3	6	78.0	76	3.1
June	2,484	812	3,296	26	31	57	7	1	8	109.9	65	2.0
July	1,722	616	2,338	40	32	72	3	4	7	75.4	79	3.4
August	2,188	417	2,605	52	18	70	11	-	11	84.0	81	3.1
September	3,141	98	3,239	65	1	66	21	-	21	108.0	87	2.7
October	2,242	172	2,414	27	1	28	32	-	32	77.9	60	2.5
November	1,894	113	2,007	50	2	52	34	-	34	66.9	86	4.3
December	1,385	56	1,441	37	2	39	23	-	23	46.5	62	4.3

1941	27,101	3,507	30,608	701	213	914	333	26	359	83.9	1,273	4.2
January	1,030	96	1,126	12	3	15	12	1	13	36.3	28	2.5
February	1,617	124	1,741	16	2	18	32	2	34	62.2	52	3.0
March	1,728	162	1,890	35	4	39	36	-	36	61.0	75	4.0
April	2,249	676	2,925	56	23	79	12	7	19	97.5	98	3.4
May	2,416	273	2,689	39	20	59	14	3	17	86.7	76	2.8
June	3,228	531	3,759	76	22	98	15	3	18	125.3	116	3.1
July	3,243	582	3,825	91	66	157	28	3	31	123.4	188	4.9
August	3,344	468	3,812	121	35	156	45	5	50	123.0	206	5.4
September	2,621	263	2,884	76	14	90	62	1	63	96.1	153	5.3
October	2,501	138	2,639	68	17	85	40	1	41	85.1	126	4.8
November	1,713	43	1,756	83	-	83	21	-	21	58.5	104	5.9
December	1,411	151	1,562	28	7	35	16	-	16	50.4	51	3.3

1942	32,737	2,313	35,050	1,291	109	1,400	305	11	316	96.0	1,716	4.9
January	2,216	24	2,240	56	-	56	32	-	32	72.3	88	3.9
February	1,162	252	1,414	18	15	33	14	1	15	50.5	48	3.4
March	2,224	131	2,355	78	2	80	21	-	21	76.0	101	4.3
April	3,752	246	3,998	130	13	143	29	2	31	133.3	174	4.4
May	2,702	105	2,807	114	1	115	21	-	21	90.5	136	4.8
June	4,801	196	4,997	199	2	201	39	1	40	166.6	241	4.8
July	3,914	313	4,227	171	19	190	22	-	22	136.4	212	5.0
August	2,454	186	2,640	142	10	152	16	5	21	85.2	173	6.6
September	3,489	127	3,616	169	6	175	39	-	39	120.5	214	5.9
October	2,198	406	2,604	89	14	103	27	-	27	84.0	130	5.0
November	2,067	127	2,194	53	11	64	23	-	23	73.1	87	4.0
December	1,758	200	1,958	72	16	88	22	2	24	63.2	112	5.7

1943	62,736	1,792	64,528	2,255	59	2,314	345	12	357	176.8	2,671	4.1
January	2,556	406	2,962	86	15	101	18	3	21	95.5	122	4.1
February	5,030	426	5,456	101	6	107	22	3	25	194.9	132	2.4
March	5,174	284	5,458	161	7	168	25	1	26	176.1	194	3.6
April	5,571	316	5,887	253	12	265	24	1	25	196.2	290	4.9
May	5,130	360	5,490	234	19	253	27	4	31	177.1	284	5.2
June	5,816	-	5,816	275	-	275	15	-	15	193.9	290	5.0
July	6,170	-	6,170	188	-	188	31	-	31	199.0	219	3.5
August	7,807	-	7,807	275	-	275	33	-	33	251.8	308	3.9
September	5,513	-	5,513	191	-	191	34	-	34	183.8	225	4.1
October	4,638	-	4,638	159	-	159	21	-	21	149.6	180	3.9
November	5,208	-	5,208	162	-	162	48	-	48	173.6	210	4.0
December	4,123	-	4,123	170	-	170	47	-	47	133.0	217	5.3

1944	113,352	44,096	157,448	2,349	224	2,573	354	5	359	430.2	2,932	1.9
January	6,278	-	6,278	314	-	314	38	-	38	202.5	352	5.6
February	4,263	45	4,308	199	-	199	24	-	24	148.6	223	5.2
March	9,031	18	9,049	283	-	283	39	-	39	291.9	322	3.6
April	9,873	10	9,883	214	-	214	25	-	25	329.4	239	2.4
May	11,353	16	11,369	274	-	274	29	-	29	366.7	303	2.7
June	13,592	2,371	15,963	293	12	305	30	-	30	532.1	335	2.1
July	11,500	6,298	17,798	229	12	241	29	4	33	574.1	274	1.5
August	10,013	10,271	20,284	186	35	221	22	1	23	654.3	244	1.2
September	6,428	9,643	16,071	96	41	137	15	-	15	535.7	152	0.9
October	10,193	6,713	16,906	75	52	127	26	-	26	545.4	153	0.9
November	9,589	5,055	14,644	98	41	139	34	-	34	488.1	173	1.2
December	11,239	3,656	14,895	88	31	119	43	-	43	480.5	162	1.1

1945	44,074	20,664	64,738	507	92	599	222	17	239	505.8	838	1.3
January	9,603	1,304	10,907	121	12	133	57	-	57	351.8	190	1.7
February	13,715	3,685	17,400	164	9	173	60	-	60	621.4	233	1.3
March	11,585	9,606	21,191	168	47	215	76	10	86	683.6	301	2.3
April	8,822	5,001	13,823	51	22	73	29	6	35	460.8	108	0.9
May	349	1,068	1,417	3	2	5	-	1	1	177.1	6	0.1

TOTAL	297,663	75,851	373,514	7,447	878	8,325	1,715	81	1,796	180.0	10,121	2.7

Source: Adapted from Max Hastings, Bomber Command (pg. 353).

Last modified: 10 December 2022