As for the pilots, we simply did not have enough good quality, fresh pilots to replace those lost in the air. You cannot just take any fellow and press him into service as a pilot, and an experienced pilot cannot be made to fly combat missions around the clock – the mind and body cannot cope with that. The end result of all this was that our units were under strength and each individual man was badly over-stretched, with all the mental stress that is a result. So each Luftwaffe pilot, living in his chateau with his polished boots and so on, was under the surface a somewhat tormented
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