Bob, after Aderholt fell out (actually, he was doubled over and trying to get back in the a/c while it was departing and just couldn't stretch forward), our brand new CO, Maj Conrad, suggested crews start using that strap. For a while many did. But for reasons obvious to a gunner or CE, its use was quickly discontinued by nearly all crewmen.

As to losing things: well, here's a short tale:

We were supplying ROKs (Tiger Div, I think) one day. They didn't speak any English, for the most part, so they would send a guy along with a map to literally point the way to the ground unit we would be going to. Along the way this one day, the map got flushed out the right side door by a stray gust of wind as the observer was turning it over and refolding it. My gunner said "the map blew out" and I looked back to see this Korean on his hands and knees at the edge of the door leaning out, and really looking sick. We could see the map fluttering down, and turned in a right hand descending turn to follow it down. No problem. It hits the ground, we land nearby, he jumps out, races over, grabs it and hugs it in a death grip, and races back on board with this big shit-eatin' grin on his face. All day long, he grins, and keeps bowing and patting us all on the back. Later, I was telling all this to a more senior AC, and he tells me the guy probably would have been shot, had he lost a map with all their positions marked on it in Indian Country, and that by going down and retrieving it, we probably saved his life! I'd never thought about it in that context; serious business.

Pickett