Air Power Quotes

If we should have to fight, we should be prepared to do so from the neck up instead of from the neck down.

The weapon where the man is sitting in is always superior against the other.

Aviation is fine as a sport. But as an instrument of war, it is worthless.

Above all, I shall see to it that the enemy will not be able to drop any bombs.

Never abandon the possibility of attack. Attack even from a position of inferiority, to disrupt the enemy's plans. This often results in improving one's own position.

The best defence of the country is the fear of the fighter. If we are strong in fighters we should probably never be attacked in force. If we are moderately strong we shall probably be attacked and the attacks will gradually be bought to a standstill. . . . If we are weak in fighter strength, the attacks will not be bought to a standstill and the productive capacity of the country will be virtually destroyed.

Hitler built a fortress around Europe, but he forgot to put a roof on it.

Superior technical achievements - used correctly both strategically and tactically - can beat any quantity numerically many times stronger yet technically inferior.

"He who wants to protect everything, protects nothing," is one of the fundamental rules of defense.

Allied air power was the greatest single reason for the German defeat.

As the aeroplane is the most mobile weapon we possess, it is destined to become the dominant offensive arm of the future.

If our airforces are never used, they have achieved their finest goal.

In the early stages of the fight Mr. Winston Churchill spoke with affectionate raillery of me and my "Chicks." He could have said nothing to make me more proud; every Chick was needed before the end.

How could they possibly be Japanese planes?

Straying off course is not recognized as a capital crime by civilized nations.

The conviction of the justification of using even the most brutal weapons is always dependent on the presence of a fanatical belief in the necessity of the victory of a revolutionary new order on this globe.

What's the sense of sending $2 million missiles to hit a $10 tent that's empty?

We were once told that the aeroplane had "abolished frontiers"; actually it is only since the aeroplane became a serious weapon that frontiers have become definitely impassable.

If we had these rockets in 1939, we should never have had this war.

This strongly asserted but ill-defined license to kill without accountability is not an entitlement which the United States or other states can have without doing grave damage to the rules designed to protect the right to life and prevent extrajudicial executions.

Are you aware it is private property? Why you'll be asking be to bomb Essen next.

The cavalry, in particular, were not friendly to the aeroplane, which it was believed, would frighten the horses.

I wish for many reasons flying had never been invented.

It is not possible . . . to concentrate enough military planes with military loads over a modern city to destroy that city.

Is it likely that an aircraft carrier or a cruise missile is going to find a person?