On Mon, 17 May 2004 20:54:38 +0100, anonymous coward
wrote:

:On Mon, 17 May 2004 13:29:04 -0400, charles.k.scott wrote:
:
: On Sat, 15 May 2004 15:09:43 +0100, anonymous coward
: wrote:

:
:The argument, provided I'm not confabulating it, was that there was a
:shortage of combat pilots so it was worthwhile building a 'plane that
:let them live to crash again.

I've never heard of crash-survivability being a factor in WW2 fighers,
but I have read that more Navy pilots were lost in training than in
combat.