When the RAF pilot goes in the drink...

[Artist]

Found an informative article, whose provenience I have not checked, though the source seems kind of reliable:

Adolf Galland, one of Germany's top fighter aces, emphasized the importance of survival in the water following shootdown. According to Galland, since even single-engine German fighters carried inflatable rubber dinghies, it was preferable to ditch rather than bail out over the water. The Bf 109 and the Bf 110 usually floated for up to 60 seconds after first touching the water. A cool-headed pilot had plenty of time to unstrap, scramble out, inflate his collapsible dinghy, and clear the aircraft.(Footnote 41)

British fighter pilots were not so fortunate. Cockpit space in both the Spitfire and the Hurricane was not sufficient to accommodate an inflatable dinghy. British pilots preferred to bail out rather than ditch their mangled machines, and after hitting the water they could rely only on their Mae West life jackets.

**Edit: And a somewhat different point of view (rather more recently):

British pilots relied on German sea rescue service during Battle of Britain

[philip.ed]

Ironically, the german 'mae-west' was technically a better design that the 1932 psttern which the RAF used, as it was gas-pressurized to inflate. The RAF one relied on the user blowing into the tube of his stole/bladder.
However, although the luftwaffe one was like a vest, it had no neck support, so there were cases of pilots landing in the drink who were unconsious, and because the vest (rather like a modern gillet) inflated around them, this cause the pilot to tip onto his face and he drowned. This didn't happen with the RAF one. Ironically, many RAF pilots traded vests with luftwaffe pilots they had shot down. Brian Kingcombe and Eric Lock, for example.