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So much for "progress" (lemmy.world)

submitted 6 days ago by FenrirIII to c/politicalmemes

35 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/23707642

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[–] PugJesus 4 points 5 days ago

A machine purpose built to withstand bullets does well at withstanding bullets. We could still build them to withstand bullets, but as it turns out, being almost invisible to radar is better for the survival of the aircraft.

The image is a somewhat famous incident in which US studies of a certain WW2 plane initially suggested that the marked areas, which were hit more often on returning planes, should be armored to increase survivability.

Luckily, a Jewish-Hungarian mathematician, Abraham Wald, pointed out that this was actually survivorship bias - the study was looking at the right data, but drawing the wrong conclusion - it was the parts which weren't hit on surviving planes which needed to be armored up - because those were the bits that, if hit, the plane would not survive to limp home after.

This saved dozens of planes and hundreds of American aircrew lives.