Many biographies and auto-biographies of aircrew record that facing a very limited life expectancy airmen frequently adopted mascots and superstitions, holding to a belief that if they adhered to a particular custom or carried a specific talisman with them, then they would "get home in time for breakfast" [REF].
Either flying as a "spare bod" to cover for sickness in another crew or having a "spare bod" fly in their own crew was not popular [REF].