This^
It's hard to do a lot of character development when most of the characters die. More Airforce personnel died in crashes than all the Marines killed in WWII... Just let that sink in... MotA did have a quick reference. Imagine if BoB was reduced to one character after Dday and had to roll over characters every 2 episodes. Flying bombers was just that much more dangerous.
Attached is a history of the 401st if you are interested. My Great Uncle was in the 401st (H) bomb group, he died in a crash in Montana one week before deploying to Deenethorpe.
"On October 1st, (1943) the 612th Squadron lost a Flying Fortress with nine men aboard in an accident over the Big Sandy bombing range. The Fortress was piloted by 2nd Lt. John McIlwain. The plane was flying in formation as they approached the bombing range when observers in other Fortresses saw it go out of control and spin in. All the crew were killed."
US MILITARY CASUALTIES IN WORLD WAR II
Branch
Killed
Wounded
Army and Air Force
318,274
565,861
Navy
62,614
37,778
Marines
24,511
68,207
Coast Guard
1,917
Unknown
TOTAL
407,316
671,278
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Air_Forces
USAAF statistical summary[edit]
The United States Army Air Forces incurred 12% of the Army's 936,000 battle casualties in World War II. 88,119 airmen died in service. 52,173 were battle casualty deaths: 45,520 killed in action, 1,140 died of wounds, 3,603 were missing in action and declared dead, and 1,910 were non-hostile battle deaths. Of the United States military and naval services, only the Army Ground Forces suffered more battle deaths. 35,946 non-battle deaths included 25,844 in aircraft accidents, more than half of which occurred within the Continental United States.[118] 63,209 members of the USAAF were other battle casualties. 18,364 were wounded in action and required medical evacuation, and 41,057 became prisoners-of-war.[118][119] Its casualties were 5.1% of its strength, compared to 10% for the rest of the Army.[120][n 58]
401stBG(H).pdf