Yes Geriaviator, I would not dispute the Hastings' rugged build quality and indeed the only in-flight accident due to structural failure I can think of occurred late in its life and was due to failure of an elevator hinge bracket. Up to about 1960, when there was a radical (and long overdue) review of some of the exercises required by the continuation training syllabus, accurate performance of steep turns was a prime requirement despite the caution in Pilots' Notes specifying ".........manoeuvres appropriate to a transport aircraft". In the Mk 1 particularly such handling resulted in some pretty positive 'g' being applied, and one does wonder if this contributed to a gradual build-up of fatigue in the affected components.