Eddie Rickenbacker Quotes

Тhe battlefield in the air will be the decisive one

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

The aggressive spirit, the offensive, is the chief thing everywhere in war, and the air is no exception.

I can see that aerial warfare is actually scientific murder.

Nothing can stop the attack of aircraft except other aircraft.

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.

As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me.

I've always wanted to be a fighter pilot. But I don't want to kill people. I'd hate to.

The British were keen for 30 caliber guns, did not believe in daylight bombing. American experts said 30 caliber was not enough; we had to have 50 caliber, also said daylight bombing was right provided the planes attacked in formation, with 50 caliber guns.

The great defense against the air menace is to attack the enemy's aircraft as near as possible to their point of departure.

Gulf Lesson One is the value of airpower.

If you want to go anywhere in modern war, in the air, on the sea, on the land, you must have command of the air.

The one effective method of defending one's own territory from an offensive by air is to destroy the enemy's air power with the greatest possible speed.

When an Indian fights, he only shoots to kill.

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

To conquer the command of the air means victory; to be beaten in the air means defeat and acceptance of whatever terms the enemy may be pleased to impose.

When you go to war, it’s very important to kill the right people

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

The development of air power in its broadest sense, and including the development of all means of combating missiles that travel through the air, whether fired or dropped, is the first essential to our survival in war.

The day may not be far off when aerial operations with their devastation of enemy lands and destruction of industrial and populous centers on a vast scale may become the principle operation of the war, to which the older forms of military and naval operations may become secondary and subordinate.

In war it is necessary to kill as many people as possible -- such is the cynical logic of war. Brutality in a fight is unavoidable; have you seen how cruelly children fight in the streets?

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.

From now on we shall bomb Germany on an ever-increasing scale, month by month, year by year, until the Nazi regime has either been exterminated by us or - better still - torn to pieces by the German people themselves.

We don't kill Iraqis - our hands do not kill Iraqis. But we target only the occupier with all the means of resistance.

All the hideously calculated hypocrisy of men when they commit a murder in the name of justice. Then it's the time of death on a grander scale, the hour of the great offenses ... fix your bayonets boys ...gentlemen, synchronize your watches ... in ten seconds time the barrage starts ... a thousand men are destined to die in order to capture a farmhouse no one has lived in for years...