How did bombers in WWII survive being shot at with bullets and flak?

Question

I see pictures and hear stories of aircraft struggling back to base with hundreds of bullet holes or missing engines/parts of wings or shrapnel inside the wings. How did they stay in the air after all that anti air fire and why are modern aircraft weaker than them (Iran shot down one easily)?

In: Engineering

Answer 1

I mean, over 12 thousand bombers were shot down during WWII, so I’d be hesitant to act like they were somehow resistant to anti-aircraft fire.

Some aircraft were hit less critically, and were able to limp home. But, like I said, 12,000+ were destroyed and hundreds of thousands of people were killed, so…