In the depths of the Second World War the allies were taking punishing bomber losses in the European Theater. It was not just the loss of aircraft but of trained crews that created grave concern. The allies could not replace crews at this staggering rate.

A research project was started to discover ways to avoid these losses. The boffins (scientists and engineers) studied the aircraft coming back from raids over Europe. Some of these planes were horribly shot up. Ailerons hanging off, tailplanes riddled with bullet holes, flack holes ripped throughout the wings and fuselage.

The boffins seemingly tried everything and added more armor to various places but the losses continued. Nothing was working. The allies still lost crews and bombers at an alarming rate.

The breakthrough was made when someone realized that they were studying the planes that came back, not the planes that didn’t. So they studied the areas of the bomber that were not damaged. Why? Because maybe the planes that were getting shot down sustained damage where these bombers did not.

They looked for reasons why the bombers returned and discovered that the hydraulic system was in the undamaged areas. More armor was placed around the fuselage to protect the hydraulics. The loss rate improved. They had found the solution!