I agree with most everything you wrote about linear flippers except saying "operators loved them". It was a crap design for everyone. Linear flippers would eventually pull the flipper baseplate right off of the playfield leading to larger and larger fasteners until the screws were poking through the playfield trying to hold the damn things on. Also, the springs weren't strong enough to pull the flippers back so Bally issued a Service Bulletin instructing ops to cut the return springs in half. To your point, those plungers would last forever though, when they were not sticking. Then they used the same design with the slingshots, too. Not a high point for Bally engineering.