Where to armour the planes

Question

During the Second World War, analysts examined bombers returning from missions over Europe and recorded where they had been hit. The holes were concentrated on the wings, the tail and the middle of the fuselage; there were very few holes around the engines and the cockpit. Armour is heavy, so it can only be added in a few places.

The commanders proposed armouring the places with the most holes.

Was that right? Where should the armour go, and why?

Accepted Answer

The armour should go where the holes are not: on the engines and cockpit. The returning planes show where a bomber can be hit and survive. The planes hit in the engines did not come back to be counted. The reasoning. Bullets from flak and fighters strike a plane more or less at random over its surface. If hits were survivable everywhere, the returning planes would show holes everywhere in proportion to area. The absence of engine holes among survivors therefore means engine hits were not survivable: those planes are at the bottom of the Channel. The wings and fuselage, full of holes, are the …

Where to armour the planes

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