[sionnsar]

I am just totally impressed with what they did with the technology they had! Simpler planes, yes they could mass-manufacture on a scale unimaginable today. And yes, they're far from B-52 technology (almost as old) where, as somebody put it, "they're all fuel and bombs."

But you look at all the handwork necessary, the huge number of tiny (aluminum?) rivets holding it all together, the lightness of the frame and yet... it was (properly) known as the "Flying Fortress" because these planes kept coming home even in terrible condition -- more so than their more capable successors.

One shock was the radio on the plane. I used to have one at least much like it if not identical, until my mother tossed it in the early 70s along with the steamer trunk full of vacuum tubes.

[Tax-chick]

Old planes were much more “airworthy” than modern ones, less dependent on the power of the engine to keep them aloft.