I just read a book about WWII and the bombing campaigns that were conducted over the UK, France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany.

It detailed the number of aircraft shot down and the number of bombs dropped. What it didn't mention was the ammunition expended during the campaigns. Not just by the air gunners, but by the interceptors and fighters, ground attack planes, and the vast numbers of anti-aircraft shells fired into the air.

The sobering thing was, everything that went up there...eventually came down...and not unnoticed, either. Even flak shells that burst - the fragments do not dissolve into thin air. Whether they hit anything at altitude or not, they all fell rapidly...onto the very land that they were trying to defend. It's been 80-odd years for some areas and nothing stayed up.

We are worried when we are overflown by a flock of pigeons or galahs - small stuff compared to what it might have been.

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