Originally Posted by cazatou
The Helpful Stacker,
Sorry, I was making the assumption that in 1945 the RAF WAS at the fore-front of Military technology. Also you had to factor in something like a 25% loss rate to enemy action. In 1942/3 you could probably make that 50%.
I wasn't commenting on your stats, just trying to rationalise why so much tail is required for so little dog.
In days gone by nearly everything on a WS or a/c could be bodged to work one way or the other by the operator, liney. Now days most WS's and a/c are reliant on many black boxes, none of which are generally 1st line repairable, necessitating large FAP's (in the case of a/c) to support each airframe. The FAP's themselves need looking after, transporting etc. Then the vehicle that transported them needs looking after, transporting etc, and on and on.
Modern wizz bang a/c are great, until they go tits up and then that logistics footprint really grows.