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But talk is cheap, and it amazed me to discover that the loss rate of the B-24 was actually far better than that of the B-17.
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It shouldn't. The Liberator benefited from some four-years of improvements in aerodynamics, engine and fuel technology between the 1935 Army Air Corps requirements that led to the Boeing 299/Y1B-17 and the 1939 contract that became the B-24.
That same Davis wing that helped make the Liberator relatively fragile compared to the Fortress also facilitated greater speed, payload and range, things you wanted in a strategic bomber.
All technology is about trade-offs and compromises, that's why these popular but silly "Best Of" lists are generally rubbish.
As for the Flensburg thing, I didn't want to fight it out either but not much one can do in a Type IX and 11-metres of water...