Nitpicker
Actually, yes I can compare now with then, and please don't call me Shirley.
The intended purposes of maintenance on "our fleets" are safety and longevity. So were the purposes of maintaining the fleets in WWII. A warplane stuck on the ground due to maintenance error was of zero use, other than canibalisation ...
I'll make another guess: You're
not an aircraft owner. Otherwise you might have had the pleasure of spending lots of money for the annual visit to the aviation Wally World called 'picking your aircraft up after maintenance'.
It's the fun park with everything!
There's 'hide and seek': Where did they leave tools
this time?
Then there's the 'disco'. Somebody - probably the LAME's kid - twiddled every knob on every avionics system. Just like a disco, you end up half-deaf and exhausted by the time you've reset everything to where it should be.
Then there's the 'room of weird mirrors'. All of the disorientation that occurs when you look through windows with grubby engineer paw marks all over them.
My favourite is the 'ghost train': What traps have been left to jump out and scare you,
this time? Will it be the injector that was clogged due to 'cleaning'? Will it be the engine monitor probe that was left disconnected? Will it be 10 degree higher CHTs due to a magneto being set using the Fred Flinstone timing kit? It's an
extra thrilling ride 'cause you don't find out until you're in the air! Yaaahhhhooooo!