Years ago I knew a man, “Ernie’’.
Ernie was a ball turret gunner in a B-17.
He said the only reason he felt he made it home alive was that he was in a B-17.
I also knew a fellow—an Episcopal priest—who had served as a B-17 gunner and made the full 25 missions when most of his comrades did not. He said his first mission changed him from teenager to man.