Life expectancy of aircrew in the Vietnam war?

Answer 1

One F104 Starfighter pilot was celebrated for accomplishing the first "Starfighter" to fly 100 missions over North Vietnam, without getting downed. During Operation Linebacker II (aka the Christmas Bombings), B52 Stratofortress's were experiencing heavy losses, 15 Stratoforts shot down within a 30 day period.

F-105 Thunderchief pilots suffered the most; nearly a 50% loss rate (nearly 400 jets lost out of 833 produced). The life expectancy of a "Thud" pilot appeared to be the worst...a 50-50 chance.

Answer 2

Depended upon mission & era. B-52 crewmen suffered horrible casualties during Linebacker II in December '72 (aka Christmas Bombings). If that campaign had lasted 6 months instead of one month, the US would have run out of B-52 Stratofortress bombers.

Rolling Thunder (1965-1968) was bad for F-105 Thunderchief airmen. At the end of that campaign, 50% of the "Thuds" were destroyed. During the Viet War, when a unit suffered loss rates of 50% or more, that unit was considered no longer combat effective. The "Thud" was the ONLY US aircraft in history to be pulled off the front lines (removed from combat) due to heavy losses.