According to the BBC, the average life expectancy for an Allied pilot in 1915 was just 11 days; how were they able to recruit pilots? Was it understood just how hazardous a posting it was? What major technical advances (if any) were made through the course of the war to make it safer?

by td4999
ScissorNightRam

Was that 11 days on which combat occurred or 11 days in a row? I ask because I once read something like the average life expectancy of American bomber crews in combat in WWII Europe was something like 35 seconds, but this was because of the strict definition of what constituted “combat” and the funny ways averages sometimes behave in certain datasets.