[NickM]

Guys:

I've been re-reading 'JG26 War Diary' and 'Luftwaffe over Germany' & I've noticed the trend of higher & higher casualties among JW pilots-especially among the new & inexperienced pilots...however I was wondering if it's know why MORE of the pilots didn't 'hit the silk' more often---it seemed like sometimes the casualties were running on the order of 80% dead, 20% wounded; was it a case of being inexperienced & panicking when under fire or had the firepower of individual fighters grown to the point where armor plating & self sealing fuel tanks couldn't keep the pilots 'safe'-relatively speaking?

Hope this isn't too dumb a question...

TIA

NM