Elf Sternberg

And it was this math that made for a depressing statistic for bomber crews during WWII; the probability of making it back from any single mission was high, but over the twenty-five missions that you had to complete before being rotated home, your overall chance of completing your tour was pretty poor. The prevailing sentiment in 1943, when bombers were being lost at a high rate due to the lack of a fighter with the range to accompany them all the way to target and back (before the P-51), was "Who's gonna make twenty-five missions? We'll get shot down first."