[Nebfer]

Okay then, I should warn you that the 177 didn't live up to expectations on the account of the fact that its two Daimler-Benz engines had a tendency to catch fire when ran at full power too long, or when the pilot accelerated too fast. This was a major problem in the early models. For example: Feb.13, 1944, fourteen He-177's were going to bomb London from a base in Western France. The mission was a total disaster: one blew a tire while taxiing, eight came back with overheated or burning engines, and of the four that reached London, one was shot down by a British night fighter. However despite the failure of this one mission, the Greif had a lost rate below 10% during Operation Steinbock, making it one of the most survivable plane of the campaign.

Well if you look at the unit involved in the disastrous Steinbock operation (the example you gave) is that the unit had just gotten brand new aircraft which had not been broken in nor all the bugs worked out. IIRC the ground crews where not familiar with the aircraft as well...