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Quote by Erich Hartmann

“See, decide, attack, reverse.”

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

“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?”

Men War Earth Lasts Night Fighting Air Sky Mankind Hero Heavy Triumph Aviation Combat Crash Archangel Chariots Whirlwind Giddy Swordsman

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

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

“. . . 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.”

World Long Form Left Dark Behinds Saws Sky Middle Fronts Huge Machines Brown Aviation Combat Pilots Hawks Sparrows

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

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

“Speed is the cushion of sloppiness.”

Speed Aviation Combat Cushions Sloppiness

Author:William P. Driscoll

“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.”

Ifs Fundamentals Caught Mood Fighter Shooting Aviation Combat Pilots Aggressiveness Fighter Pilot

Author:David McCampbell

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

Fighting Existence Quality Amount Vanity Aviation Combat Pilots Smallest Aeroplanes Fighter Pilot Military Aviation Being Spoiled

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.”

May Has Beens Individual Energy Ability Effort Air Amount Battle Training Increase Determined Fighter Winner Accomplished Aviation Combat Pilots Fighter Pilot

Author:Pappy Boyington

“The experienced fighting pilot does not take unnecessary risks. His business in to shoot down enemy planes, not to get shot down. His trained hand and eye and judgment are as much a part of his armament as his machinegun, and a fiftyfifty chance is the worst he will take or should take except where the show is of the kind that . . . justifies the sacrifice of plane or pilot.”

Should Kind Doe Shows Hands Eye Fighting Chance Enemy Risk Sacrifice Worst Judgment Shots Planes Aviation Justify Combat Pilots Unnecessary Chances Are Armament

Author:Eddie Rickenbacker

“The first rule of all air combat is to see the opponent first. Like the hunter who stalks his prey and maneuvers himself unnoticed into the most favourable position for the kill, the fighter in the opening of a dogfight must detect the opponent as early as possible in order to attain a superior position for the attack.”

Firsts Order Air Position Superiors Opening Fighter Opponents Aviation Combat Hunters Prey Stalking Unnoticed

Book:The first and the last: the rise and fall of the German fighter forces, 1938-1945

Source: The first and the last: the rise and fall of the German fighter forces, 1938-1945

“The British were sporting. They would accept a fight under almost all conditions.”

Fighting Accepting Conditions British Aviation Combat

Author:Gunther Rall

Quote by Erich Hartmann

Author

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