[the scotsman]

As a Brit, it feels almost sacriligeous top criticise a British WW2 plane. Esp one that served in the darkest days of 1940.

[AnalogReigns]

None-the-less, these saved your country a lot more than that plane:

And nearly 1/3 of the American airmen who manned them, never returned.

A question I always like to ask, especially of those who call the Air Force wimpy: Which US force had the highest casualty rate, by far, in WWII: Army, Army Air-Corps, Navy, or Marines? Most will guess Marines, or some even Navy, but it's not even close. 30% of our bombers over Europe were shot down, and all were Army Air-Corps, predecessor to the Air Force.