NOTES TO TABLE 41

Naval and Marine aircraft during the war expended against the enemy nearly 103,000 tons of bombs, over 210,000 aircraft rockets, and about 85 million rounds of ammunition.

45% of the bomb tonnage, 87% of the rockets, and 60% of the ammunition were expended by carrier aircraft. Approximately 95% of the totals for carrier and land-based aircraft combined were expended in dive, glide or masthead bombing, rocket or strafing attack from altitudes of 50 to 5000 feet, usually 3500 feet or less. Thus the amounts expended are hardly comparable in tonnage terms with ordnance expenditures for air forces employing less accurate methods of attack. They may, however, generally be compared between types of Naval aircraft, since normally only the PBJ, of all Naval aircraft, employed horizontal bombing from altitudes of over 5000 feet as more than an occasional method of attack.

The table above indicates that the TBF-TBM torpedo bomber, accounting for a total of over 32% of total bomb expenditures, and 29% of all rocket expenditures, was the Navy’s principal carrier of heavy ordnance. All types of fighters combined carried less than 22% of the total bomb tonnage to target, though they flew half the attack sorties; however, they expended nearly 2/3 of all rockets, and 70% of all ammunition.

Dive bombers of all types combined carried a total of 34% of all Navy bomb tonnage, but were relatively negligible factors as rocket carriers. Patrol bombers (aside from the Marine PBJs, which carried 8% of total bomb tonnage) accounted for less than 5% of total bomb tonnage, and about 7% of the ammunition expenditures.

Most ammunition was expended against non-airborne targets. Data distinguishing such target expenditures from those in air combat are not available, but only 14,308 Naval planes engaged in air combat, sow but briefly, or only 5% of a total of 284,073 action sorties involving 259,187 attacks on targets. It is estimated that not over 20% of all ammunition expenditures were in air combat, leaving a minimum of perhaps 70 million rounds expended on other targets.