As one who's been interested in the strategic air offensive against Germany for many years I find it rather sad that discussions of it often degenerate into slagging off the contributions of one side or another. Remember that the bomber crews were all volunteers fighting a type of warfare that had never been tried before and tactics had to be made up as they went along. I for one look forward to "Masters of the Air" or whatever it will be called and hope it is as good as "Band of Brothers".
I have read that RAF Bomber Command had the second highest proportion of casualties of any force in WW2 and the US 8th AF was not far behind. The "honour" of having the highest proportion of casualties in WW2 belongs to the German U-Boat Fleet.
Polecat