Manfred von Richthofen Quotes

I'm sure the most favorite airplane in my career would still be the Sabre F86 cleft wing , which allowed me to be credited with 2 Russian-built Mig-15 destroyed during the Korean War. Where I was in 1953.

Nothing can stop the attack of aircraft except other aircraft.

Тhe battlefield in the air will be the decisive one

The experienced fighting pilot does not take unnecessary risks. His business is to shoot down enemy planes, not to get shot down.

I was a fighter pilot, flying Hurricanes all round the Mediterranean. I flew in the Western Desert of Libya, in Greece, in Syria, in Iraq and in Egypt.

In the long run sea power will be no match for air power.

Air superiority, which the United States has taken for granted since World War II, is no longer assured. And, without control of the skies, U.S. ships and soldiers would be vulnerable in ways that are difficult to imagine.

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

Fighter pilots rove in the area allotted to them in any way they like, and when they spot an enemy they attack and shoot them down.... Everything else is rubbish.

During the Battle of Britain the question "fighter or fighter-bomber?" had been decided once and for all: The fighter can only be used as a bomb carrier with lasting effect when sufficient air superiority has been won.

Because of its independence of surface limitations and its superior speed the airplane is the offensive weapon par excellence.

One can only repeat about air warfare: we are in a position of almost hopeless inferiority and must grin and bear it as we take the blows from the English and the Americans. [Germans in the bombed cities] are gradually beginning to lose their courage. Hell like that is hard to bear for any length of time, especially since the inhabitants along the Rhine and Ruhr see no prospect of improvement.

I've always been intrigued by fighter pilots and strategy because it occurs in like, milliseconds, you know.

Of course, with the increasing number of aeroplanes one gains increased opportunities for shooting down one's enemies, but at the same time, the possibility of being shot down one's self increases.

If we would have had the 262 at our disposal - even with all the delays - if we could have had in '44, ah, let's say three hundred operational, that day we could have stopped the American daytime bombing offensive, that's for sure.

I spent about seven years during the Vietnam War flight-testing airplanes for the Air Force. And then I went in and I had a lot of fun building airplanes that people could build in their garages. And some 3,000 of those are flying. Of course, one of them is around-the-world Voyager.

During World War II, the pilot losses were staggering. In some bombing raids, as many as 80% of the planes that left did not return.

I read, studied, and learned everything I could find about aviation. It was my greatest desire to become a pilot. I could already picture myself in the cockpit of an airliner or in a military fighter plane. I felt deep in my heart this was my thing!

Air warfare is a shot through the brain, not a hacking to pieces of the enemy's body.

If we lose the war in the air we lose the war and we lose it quickly.

Three Royal Air Force aeroplanes have come over to us so far with their arms and equipment.

The excitement of automobile racing did not compare with what I knew must come with aeroplane fighting in France.

Execute Unrestricted Air and Submarine Warfare Against Japan

Aviation constituted a new and possibly decisive element in preventing or fighting a war, and I was in a unique position to observe European aviation - especially in its military aspects.

I never did get hit, and neither did any of the leaders that I flew wing for.