"In four years of war, almost eight thousand airmen from Britain, Australia, Canada and the United States were shot down and killed, taken prisoner, or wounded in action." Henshaw, Trevor. The Sky Their Battlefield. London: Grub Street, 1995
During World War I, German Air Service casualties exceeded 16,000 pilots and observers missing or dead due to enemy action, friendly fire, crashes and accidents in the air and on the ground, as well as illness and disease. Almost half of its casualties were not the result of enemy action and a quarter of the German Air Service losses occurred at home during training.
