"Cub Driver" wrote...

(IIRC military aircraft were designed to maintain
lower cabin pressure than airliners, to limit the damage
amplification following a hit)

I was pondering this possibility also, but then I remembered that the
B-36 was supposed to be *depressurized* when the plane moved into a
combat situation.

For a couple data points, the A-4 and A-6 had cabin pressure differentials of
about 4 and 5 psi (8,000' cockpit at about 23,000'). There was no
depressurization procedure for combat. The 747-400 runs normally at 8.9 psi
(6,700' cabin at about 43,000').

The B-36 was an early pressurized aircraft, developed during war time. I
suspect engineers' knowledge of the aircraft reaction to combat damage and rapid
depressurization was a lot less than now...