karn@ka9q.bellcore.com (Phil Karn) (01/21/89)
>>... I don't think letting the pilot get >>away is intentional. Trained pilots are often harder to replace than >>planes. > >This was true in WW2. It is not today. Modern aircraft are much more >expensive and much harder to produce on short notice than pilots. A >good many air forces haven't figured this out yet, however. It's questionable if this was true even in WWII. I recently saw a TV interview with an American WWII fighter pilot. He remarked that he liked to see Japanese pilots bail out successfully after shooting their planes down -- because he knew they'd be back next week with still more planes he could destroy. Phil