That may well be true, teeteringhead, but in a struggle for aerial supremacy it is better to avoid as many such losses as possible, so that more Air Power can be brought to bear were it is most needed, ie against the enemy. If such a struggle for Air Supremacy is much accelerated in the future (a debatable point, I'll admit) then such unnecessary and avoidable losses are all the more costly, because of the lack of time to make them good. To avoid that you need to ensure airworthiness beforehand, ie in peacetime, lest not doing so enables a more thoroughly prepared enemy to prevail.