Danny42C
Really we want to have one of the old-timers here (and surely there must be some left) to tell us what sustained them through a period of mental stress such as few men are called on to endure.
Whilst I do not profess to having ever been subject to such losses, I do remember early on in flying training that our instructor/course mentor exclaimed that 1 out of the 10 of us would probably not make it to our 16/38 pension point due to our chosen career. He was right and a good mate was lost. How did we all cope? Well none of us ever believed that we would be the one - some call it "denial".
Using this logic, if I were Battle of Britain or Battle of Berlin aircrew, then I would choose to believe that I would be one of the lucky ones!
LJ
PS. I have ~50hrs in the Lanc and ~100hrs in the Dakota. So my hat goes off to all WWII aircrew; low technology and speed was so much more likely to kill you in those days.