The findings of psychiatrists working for the USAAF have long dominated scholarship on aerial combat stress during the Second World War, including explanations why the emotional casualty rate aboard American heavy bombers varied by crew position. Critical examination suggests that the answers put forward are unsatisfactory, opening the way for an alternate analytic approach. Comprehending the different forms and levels of sensory stress heavy bomber crews experienced during combat missions in combination with different degrees of individual agency yields a more nuanced and convincing way of comprehending why some jobs were more psychologically demanding than others, and hence why casualty rates varied.

在第二次世界大战期间，为美国空军工作的精神科医生的发现长期以来一直主导着有关空战压力的奖学金，其中包括为什么美国重型轰炸机上的人员伤亡率因机组人员位置而异的解释。严格的审查表明，提出的答案并不令人满意，这为其他分析方法开辟了道路。理解战斗任务期间经历的感觉压力沉重的轰炸机人员的不同形式和水平，并结合不同程度的个体代理，可以得出一种更细微和令人信服的方式来理解为什么某些工作比其他任务对心理的要求更高，以及人员伤亡率为何变化。