B.E.2 and R.E. 8 losses / combat ratio

[Alberto_Casirati]

Can anyone please tell me whether there are any statistics about the B.E.2 and R.E. 8 losses / combat ratios ? I am trying to estabilish whether they were under or above 33%.
Thanks in advance to all those who will take the trouble and time to answer.

[cam]

Alberto,

>Can anyone please tell me whether there are
>any statistics about the B.E.2 and R.E. 8
>losses / combat ratios ?

For 3 Sqn AFC between September 1917 and November 1918, they had 51 Decisive Combats, including 16 Destroyed, 8 Out of Control and 27 Driven Down. I dont know if the destroyed includes the DV that Sandy and Hughes brought down which was captured and the Halbertsadt that Armstrong and Mart brought down which was also captured. So possibly there could be 2 Captured's added to the list.

They lost 6 machines to enemy action and 5 to other causes. Amazingly the Squadron did not have one flying officer taken prisoner. Even more amazingly they only lost one machine over the enemy side of the lines, Lts Peel and Jeffers. Others made it to allied lines badly shot about though, in one case with pilot and observer dead and still managing to land.

I guess in combat / losses, taking the destroyed only, 11/16 is the ratio. Is that what you are looking for?



cam
AFC - http://members.nbci.com/pointcook/

[Graeme]

In The Sky Their Battlefield, Henshaw gives BE2 losses of 363 and RE8 losses of 661. From my records, at least 114 of the BE2 losses were the result of combat and at least 147 of the RE8s. Unfortunately, there are many instances where the loss is merely recorded as a machine having failed to return without a cause being given.

VBR Graeme