It may not have. I spoke with a gentleman that was on a B-17 crew later in the war and he said that by the time that he was flying missions, it was pretty rare to see a German fighter because by the time that they reached the Luftwaffe fighter range, they were already in Germany and in constant flak for almost the entire time. He said that the Germans never seemed to have a shortage of the flak and that they had some casualties from it.I'd be surprised if the 8th ever dipped to 30%, even given the better survival rates later in the war. At my church, we had an elderly vet who was also in the 8th. He died about a year ago. A year or so before, I bumped into him after vet recognition and commented that I had had a brother in the 8th. He commented that they were lucky to make it back alive. I didn't have the heart to tell him that my brother had passed away from a heart attack in 1985...