I have sometimes wondered this as well. But a theory which struck me as to why X-Bomber was so unique compared to other Earth ships may be in the flashbacks of some episodes.
Professor Hagan discovered the ship which brought Lamia to Mars- same technology as the Skull, (which also appeared to be virtually indestrucatable). My theory is that Hagan studied this ship and used its technology and engineering as a basis for his X Bomber design, since he was the architect of the X-Bomber. And as he then disappeared before the construction was complete- maybe he had not fully briefed anyone else on his design. Meaning it would take someone else years to copy. As X-Bomber was Earths only real form of defence, it would not have been practical to mothball her to enable someone to study the engineering principals and make more ships of the same class.
It was never spelled out so bluntly in the show, but there are enough clues throughout the series to suggest that this is a possibility.
"I'm not really me. Thats me there- that pile of albino mouse droppings!"
Yeah, that makes sense. But I still think Earth was pretty poorly protected anyway. The Imperial Alliance was coming up with new weapons left, right and centre - remember the 'Death Ball'? Classic! What did Earth do? Just keep on sending out X-bomber again and again - no wonder the poor ship spent much of its time shot down on a planet.
I really hope Shiro, Hercules and John-Lee got paid overtime for the amount of hours they had to put in.
The bigger question to that is why on Earth were those three pilots chosen to form half of the X-Bomber crew? It was said in the first episode that they had only recently graduated the academy and had no practical experience. Why not put an experienced crew on board your most advanced ship?
It was also clear that X-Bomber was short of a full crew complement. There was the communications station behind Lee's navigation station which was occasionally manned by Lamia- the rest of the time Lee had to be the navigator; engineer and communications officer. Then there was the oft empty seat besides doctor Benn- hinted at but never confirmed as being meant for Captain Carter (proffessor Hagan's first choice of captain for the ship). Although Doctor Benn was a scientist, he was also a medical Doctor. So why else would the ships captain also be hits surgeon?
I know that when the X-Bomber was first launched it was on a suicide mission, but even so- would you not put your best people on board your last line of defense?
"I'm not really me. Thats me there- that pile of albino mouse droppings!"
You could ask the same Question of Star Wars Episode IV, you have hundreds of experienced pilots, but only a small amount of x-wings, so you put a newbie who's never been trained never mind been in combat to pilot one of those precious x-wings?
Gotta give them both up to dramatic licence.
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