Good flying never killed [an enemy] yet.
Major Edward 'Mick' Mannock, RAF
Up there the world is divided into bastards and suckers. Make your choice.
Derek Robinson, 'Piece of Cake.'
I belong to a group of men who fly alone. There is only one seat in the cockpit of a fighter airplane. There is no space allotted for another pilot to tune the radios in the weather or make the calls to air traffic control centers or to help with the emergency procedures or to call off the airspeed down final approach. There is no one else to break the solitude of a long cross-country flight. There is no one else to make decisions. I do everything myself, from engine start to engine shutdown. In a war, I will face alone the missiles and the flak and the small-arms fire over the front lines. If I die, I will die alone.
Richard Bach, 'Stranger to the Ground,' 1963.
I hate to shoot a Hun down without him seeing me, for although this method is in accordance with my doctrine, it is against what little sporting instincts I have left.
B. McCudden, V.C., 1917.
Fighting in the air is not sport. It is scientific murder.
Captain Edward V. 'Eddie' Rickenbacker, USAS
The first time I ever saw a jet, I shot it down.
General Chuck Yeager, USAF
Of all my accomplishments I may have achieved during the war, I am proudest of the fact that I never lost a wingman. It was my view that no kill was worth the life of a wingman. . . . Pilots in my unit who lost wingmen on this basis were prohibited from leading a [section]. The were made to fly as wingman, instead.
Colonel Erich 'Bubi' Hartmann, Luftwaffe.
And I have yet to find one single individual who has attained conspicuous success in bringing down enemy aeroplanes who can be said to be spoiled either by his successes or by the generous congratulations of his comrades. If he were capable of being spoiled he would not have had the character to have won continuous victories, for the smallest amount of vanity is fatal in aeroplane fighting. Self-distrust rather is the quality to which many a pilot owes his protracted existence.
Captain Edward V. 'Eddie' Rickenbacker, USAS
The duty of the fighter pilot is to patrol his area of the sky, and shoot down any enemy fighters in that area. Anything else is rubbish.
Baron Manfred von Richthofen, 1917. Richtofen would not let members of his Staffel strafe troops in the trenches.
Anybody who doesn't have fear is an idiot. It's just that you must make the fear work for you. Hell when somebody shot at me, it made me madder than hell, and all I wanted to do was shoot back.
Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.
The most important thing in fighting was shooting, next the various tactics in coming into a fight and last of all flying ability itself.
Lt. Colonel W. A. 'Billy' Bishop, RAF.
In nearly all cases where machines have been downed, it was during a fight which had been very short, and the successful burst of fire had occurred within the space of a minute after the beginning of actual hostilities.
Lt. Colonel W. A. 'Billy' Bishop, RAF.
Aerial gunnery is 90 percent instinct and 10 percent aim.
Captain Frederick C. Libby, RFC.
I had no system of shooting as such. It is definitely more in the feeling side of things that these skills develop. I was at the front five and a half years, and you just got a feeling for the right amount of lead.
Lt. General Guenther Rall, Luftwaffe.
You can have computer sights of anything you like, but I think you have to go to the enemy on the shortest distance and knock him down from point-blank range. You'll get him from in close. At long distance, it's questionable.
Colonel Erich 'Bubi' Hartmann, Luftwaffe.
I am not a good shot. Few of us are. To make up for this I hold my fire until I have a shot of less than 20 degrees deflection and until I'm within 300 yards. Good discipline on this score can make up for a great deal.
Lt. Colonel John C. Meyer, USAAF.
Go in close, and when you think you are too close, go in closer.
Major Thomas B. 'Tommy' McGuire, USAAF.
I opened fire when the whole windshield was black with the enemy . . . at minimum range . . . it doesn't matter what your angle is to him or whether you are in a turn or any other maneuver.
Colonel Erich 'Bubi' Hartmann, Luftwaffe.
As long as I look into the muzzles, nothing can happen to me. Only if he pulls lead am I in danger.
Captain Hans-Joachim Marseille, Luftwaffe.
Everything in the air that is beneath me, especially if it is a one-seater . . . is lost, for it cannot shoot to the rear.
Baron Manfred von Richthofen
I started shooting when I was much too far away. That was merely a trick of mine. I did not mean so much as to hit him as to frighten him, and I succeeded in catching him. He began flying curves and this enabled me to draw near.
Baron Manfred von Richthofen
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.
Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.
See, decide, attack, reverse.
Major Erich 'Bubi' Hartmann, Luftwaffe.
I'm waiting to be told how cobras, hooks, or vectored thrust help in combat. They're great at air shows, but zero energy is a fighter pilot's nightmare. Shoot your opponent down and his number two will be on your tail thinking it's his birthday -- a target hanging there in the sky with zero energy.
Ned Firth, Eurofighter
So it was that the war in the air began. Men rode upon the whirlwind that night and slew and fell like archangels. The sky rained heroes upon the astonished earth. Surely the last fights of mankind were the best. What was the heavy pounding of your Homeric swordsmen, what was the creaking charge of chariots, besides this swift rush, this crash, this giddy triumph, this headlong sweep to death?
H. G. Wells, 'The World Set Free,' 1914.
I was a pilot flying an airplane and it just so happened that where I was flying made what I was doing spying.
Francis Gary Power, U-2
The Yo-Yo is very difficult to explain. It was first perfected by the well-known Chinese fighter pilot Yo-Yo Noritake. He also found it difficult to explain, being quite devoid of English.
Squadron Leader K. G. Holland, RAF.
I never went into the air thinking I would lose.
Commander Randy 'Duke' Cunningham, USN.
It is probable that future war will be conducted by a special class, the air force, as it was by the armored Knights of the Middle Ages.
Brigadier General William 'Billy' Mitchell, USAAF.
Their element is to attack, to track, to hunt, and to destroy the enemy. Only in this way can the eager and skillful fighter pilot display his ability. Tie him to a narrow and confined task, rob him of his initiative, and you take away from him the best and most valuable qualities he posses: aggressive spirit, joy of action, and the passion of the hunter.
Lt. General Adolph Galland, Luftwaffe.
Aggressiveness was a fundamental to success in air-to-air combat and if you ever caught a fighter pilot in a defensive mood you had him licked before you started shooting.
Captain David McCampbell, USN.
The smallest amount of vanity is fatal in aeroplane fighting. Self-distrust rather is the quality to which many a pilot owes his protracted existence.
Captain Edward V. 'Eddie' Rickenbacker.
(continued)
