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Quote by Erich Hartmann

“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.”

Quote by Erich Hartmann

Author

A renowned German pilot during World War II, known as the 'Red Baron'. Limited information is available, but Erich Hartmann achieved remarkable combat victories, becoming the pilot with the most aerial victories in history. more

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“Everything in the air that is beneath me, especially if it is a one seater . . . is lost, for it cannot shoot to the rear.”

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Book:The Red Baron

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“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.”

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“See, decide, attack, reverse.”

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“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?”

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Book:The World Set Free: H. G. Wells Collections

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“. . . my pilot pointed to his left front and above, and looking in the direction he pointed, I saw a long dark brown form fairly streaking across the sky. We could see that it was a German machine, and when it got above and behind our middle machine, it dived on it for all the world like a huge hawk on a hapless sparrow.”

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Book:Flying Fury: Five Years in the Royal Flying Corps

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“Speed is the cushion of sloppiness.”

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“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.”

“Aggressiveness was a fundamental to success in airtoair combat and if you ever caught a fighter pilot in a defensive mood you had him licked before you started shooting.”

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“The smallest amount of vanity is fatal in aeroplane fighting. Selfdistrust rather is the quality to which many a pilot owes his protracted existence.”

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Book:Fighting the Flying Circus

Source: Fighting the Flying Circus

“The air battle is not necessarily won at the time of the battle. The winner may have been determined by the amount of time, energy, thought and training an individual has previously accomplished in an effort to increase his ability as a fighter pilot.”

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Author:Pappy Boyington