LCA Squadron

[HighTone]

Good day everyone.

Here is a collection of Avaition stuff I have collected over the years. Should be a good read for all us Aces Highers. Enjoy.

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If you're in a fair fight, you didn't plan it properly.
— Nick Lappos, Chief R&D Pilot, Sikorsky Aircraft.

The British were sporting. They would accept a fight under almost all conditions.
— Gunther Rall, Luftwaffe, 275 victories.

It's just like being in a knife fight in a dirt-floor bar. If you want to fix a fella, the best way to do it is to get behind him and stick him in the back. It's the same in an air fight. If you want to kill that guy, the best thing to do is get around behind him where he can't see you . . . . and shoot him.
— Captain William O'Brian, 357th Fighter Group, USAAF.

A squadron commander who sits in his tent and gives orders and does not fly, though he may have the brains of Soloman, will never get the results that a man will, who, day in and day out, leads his patrols over the line and infuses into his pilots the 'espirit de corps.'
— Brigadier General William 'Billy' Mitchell, USAS.

The greater issues were beyond us. We sat in a tiny cockpit, throttle lever in one hand, stick in the other. At the end of our right thumb was the firing button, and in each wing were four guns. We aimed through an optical gunsight, a red bead in the middle of a red ring. Our one concern was to boot out the enemy.
— Group Captain Peter Townsend, RAF.

Victory smiles upon those who anticipate the change in the character of war, not upon those who wait to adapt themselves after the changes occur.
— Giulio Douhet, 'The Command of the Air.'

I saw the lightnings gleaming rod.
Reach forth and write upon the sky
The awful autograph of God.
— Joaquin Miller, 'The Ship In The Desert.'

There was only one catch and that was Catch22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask, and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to.
— Joseph Heller, 'Catch22.'

We were stripped down, even the turrets were removed. You were light and real fast, though. Our 12th squadron motto was 'Alone Unarmed Unafraid.' As you can imagine, this actually translated into something more like, 'Alone Unarmed and Scared Shitless.'
— Theodore R. 'Dick' Newell, Korean War pilot, 12th TAC Reconnaissance
Squadron, on flying the reconnaissance version of the B-26.

We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won't allow them to write "fuck" on their airplanes because? It's obscene!
— Colonel Walter E. Kurtz in the 1979 movie 'Apocalypse Now.'

Yea though I fly through the valley of the shadow of death... I fear no evil ... for I fly the biggest, baddest, meanest, fastest motherfucker in the whole damn valley.
— Anon.

In blossom today, then scattered:
Life is so like a delicate flower.
How can one expect the fragrance
To last forever?
— Vice Admiral Ohnishi, Kamikaze Special Attack Force

No guts, no glory. If you are going to shoot him down, you have to get in there and mix it up with him.
— General Frederick C. 'Boots' Blesse, USAF.

I don't mind being called tough, because in this racket it's the tough guys who lead the survivors.
— General Curtis LeMay, USAF.

Watching the Dallas Cowboys perform, it is not difficult to believe that coach Tom Landry flew four-engines bombers during World War II. He was in B-17 Flying Fortresses out of England, they say. His cautious, conservative approach to every situation and the complexity of the plays he sends in do seem to reflect the philosophy of a pilot trained to doggedly press on according to plans laid down before takeoff. I sometimes wonder how the Cowboys would have fared all this years had Tom flown fighters in combat situations which dictated continuously changing tactics.
— Len Morgan, 'View from the Cockpit.'

Everything I had ever learned about air fighting taught me that the man who is aggressive, who pushes a fight, is the pilot who is successful in combat and who has the best opportunity for surviving battle and coming home.
— Major Robert S. Johnson, USAAF.

I think that the most important features of a fighter pilot are aggressiveness and professionalism. They are both needed to achieve the fighter pilot's goal: the highest score within the shortest time, with the least risk to himself and his wingman.
— Colonel Gidi Livni, Israeli Air Force.

The aggressive spirit, the offensive, is the chief thing everywhere in war, and the air is no exception.
— Baron Manfred von Richthofen

Eyesight and seeing the enemy first, or at least in time to take correct tactical maneuvers was very important. However, most important is the guts to plough through an enemy or enemies, and fight it out. There are no foxholes to hide in . . . there is no surrendering. I know of no Navy fighter pilot in the war who turned tail and ran. If one did, he would lose his wings and be booted out of the service for cowardice.
— Richard H. May, USN

There are only two types of aircraft — fighters and targets.
— Doyle 'Wahoo' Nicholson, USMC.

Do unto the other feller the way he'd like to do unto you, an' do it fust [sic].
— E. N. Westcott, 'David Harum.'

The essence of leadership . . . was, and is, that every leader from flight commander to group commander should know and fly his airplanes.
— Air Vice-Marshal J. E. 'Johnnie' Johnson, RAF.

A speck of dirt on your windscreen could turn into an enemy fighter in the time it took to look round and back again. A little smear on your goggles might hide the plane that was coming in to kill you.
— Derek Robinson, 'Piece of Cake.'

There are pilots and there are pilots; with the good ones, it is inborn. You can't teach it. If you are a fighter pilot, you have to be willing to take risks.
— General Robin Olds, USAF.

Today it is even more important to dominate the . . . highly sophisticated weapon systems, perhaps even more important than being a good pilot; to make the best use of this system.
— General Adolf Galland, Luftwaffe.

An excellent weapon and luck had been on my side. To be successful, the best fighter pilot needs both.
— General Adolf Galland, Luftwaffe.

One of the secrets of air fighting was to see the other man first. Seeing airplanes from great distances was a question of experience and training, of knowing where to look and what to look for. Experienced pilots always saw more than the newcomers, because the later were more concerned with flying than fighting. . . . The novice had little idea of the situation, because his brain was bewildered by the shock and ferocity of the fight.
— Air Vice-Marshal J. E. 'Johnnie' Johnson, RAF.

Only the spirit of attack borne in a brave heart will bring success to any fighter aircraft, no matter how highly developed it may be.
— General Adolf Galland, Luftwaffe.

The man who enters combat encased in solid armor plate, but lacking the essential of self-confidence, is far more exposed and naked to death than the individual who subjects himself to battle shorn of any protection but his own skill, his own belief in himself and in his wingman. Righteousness is necessary for one's peace of mind, perhaps, but it is a poor substitute for agility . . . and a resolution to meet the enemy under any conditions and against any odds.
— Major Robert S. Johnson, USAAF.

To be a good fighter pilot, there is one prime requisite — think fast, and act faster.
— Major John T. Godfrey, USAAF.

Mark Twain said, "Courage is the mastery of fear, resistance to fear, not the absence of fear." At times the nearness of death brings an inexplicable exhilaration which starts the adrenaline flowing and results in instant action. The plane becomes an integral part of the pilot's body, it is strapped to his butt, and they become a single fighting machine.
— R. M. Littlefield, 'Double Nickel — Double Trouble.'

Being a stealth pilot is one of the most labor intensive and time constrained types of flying that I know. We have very strict timing constraints: to be where you are supposed to be all the time, exactly on time, and that has to be monitored by the pilot. For example, during a bomb competition in training in the US, I dropped a weapon that landed 0.02 seconds from the desired time, and finished third!
— Lt. Col. Miles Pound, USAF

Two phrases are stamped on the key ring that every new 'Bandit' (a pilot who has soloed in an F-117) receives:
Stealth Equals Death.
When it absolutely, positively has to be taken out overnight.


Ode To The P-38
Oh, Hedy Lamarr is a beautiful gal, and Madeleine Carroll is too,
But you'll find if you query, a different theory amongst any bomber crew
For the loveliest thing of which one could sing (this side of the pearly gates)
Is no blonde or brunette of the Hollywood set -
But an escort of P-38s.
Yes, in the days that have passed,
when the tables were massed with glasses of scotch and champagne,
It's quite true that the sight was a thing of delight us,
intent on feeling no pain.
But no longer the same, nowadays is this game
When we head north for Messina Straits
Take the sparkling wine-every time,
just make mine an escort of P-38s.
Byron, Shelley and Keats ran a dozen dead heats
Describing the views from the hills,
of the valleys in May when the winds gently sway
In the air it's a different story;
We sweat out our track through the fighters and flak
We're willing to split up the glory
Well, they wouldn't reject us, so heaven protect us
and, until all this shooting abates,
Give us courage to fight 'em - one other small item -
an escort of P-38s.
— Frederic Arnold, 'Kohn's War.'

I didn't turn with the enemy pilots as a rule. I might make one turn - to see what the situation was - but not often. It was too risky.
— General John C. Meyer, Vice-Chief of Staff, USAF.

It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed.
— USAF Manual

Nothing is true in tactics.
— Commander Randy 'Duke' Cunningham, USN, first American ace in Vietnam.

We were too busy fighting to worry about the business of clever tactics.
— Harold Balfour, RAF. W.W.I fighter pilot and British Under-Secretary of State for War.

Beware the lessons of a fighter pilot who would rather fly a slide rule than kick your ass!
— Commander Ron 'Mugs' McKeown, USN, Commander of the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School.

For most of the time carrier aviation is more challenging than flying in a spacecraft
— Astronaut James Lovell

Fighter pilots, above all else, know who among their peers are hunters and who are hunted. They absolutely will not fly into a tough combat situation with a wingman they don’t trust and not all men make the cut. Where we work is a vicious place. I’ll attempt to describe it, but the full comprehension comes only in a sky full of hot metal and smart missiles that all seem to be looking at you. You’re in a machine that is so fast and powerful that you intuitively know that if death comes, it will be full of hot fire. Frail human that you are, you will be shredded to pieces. Worst of all, you’ll be alone in a fierce place where your comrades cannot hold you while you die. That is the real environment of a fighter pilot.
— Jerry R Caddick

The ordinary air fighter is an extraordinary man and the extraordinary air fighter stands as one in a million among his fellows.
— Theodore Roosevelt

... a fighter pilot must be free to propose improvements [in tactics] or he will get himself killed.
— Commander Randy 'Duke' Cunningham, USN.

When I took over my wing [in Vietnam], the big talk wasn't about the MIG's, but about the SAM's ... I'd seen enemy planes before, but those damn SAM's were something else. When I saw my first one, there were a few seconds of sheer panic, because that's a most impressive sight to see that thing coming at you. You feel like a fish about to be harpooned. There's something terribly personal about the SAM; it means to kill you and I'll tell you right now, it rearranges your priorities ... We had been told to keep our eyes on them and not to take any evasive move too soon, because they were heat-seeking and they, too would correct, so I waited until it was almost on me and then I rolled to the right and it went on by. It was awe inspiring ... The truth is you never do get used to the SAM's; I had about two hundred fifty shot at me and the last one was as inspiring as the first. Sure I got cagey, and I was able to wait longer and longer, but I never got overconfident. I mean, if you're one or two seconds too slow, you've had the schnitzel.
— General Robin Olds, USAF.

Every day kill just one, rather than today five, tomorrow ten . . . that is enough for you. Then your nerves are calm and you can sleep good, you have your drink in the evening and the next morning you are fit again.
— Colonel Erich 'Bubi' Hartmann, Luftwaffe.

The closest modern equivalent to the Homeric hero is the ace fighter pilot.
— W. H. Auden

To become an ace a fighter must have extraordinary eyesight, strength, and agility, a huntsman's eye, coolness in a pinch, calculated recklessness, a full measure of courage—and occasional luck!
— General Jimmy Doolittle

The most important thing for a fighter pilot is to get his first victory without too much shock.
— Colonel Werner Moelders, Luftwaffe. He got his first victory, and 114 others.

It is true to say that the first kill can influence the whole future career of a fighter pilot. Many to whom the first victory over the opponent has been long denied either by unfortunate circumstances or by bad luck can suffer from frustration or develop complexes they may never rid themselves of again.
— General Adolf Galland, Luftwaffe.

It is wonderful how cheered a pilot becomes after he shoots down his first machine; his morale increases by at least 100 percent.
— Captain James Ira Thomas 'Taffy' Jones, RFC, 37 victories in 3 months W.W.I..

I gained in experience with every plane shot down, and now was able to fire in a calm, deliberate manner. Each attack was made in a precise manner. Distance and deflection were carefully judged before firing. This is not something that comes by accident; only by experience can a pilot overcome feelings of panic. A thousand missions could be flown and be of no use if the pilot has not exchanged fire with the enemy.
— Major John T. Godfrey, USAAF.

As a fighter pilot I know from my own experiences how decisive surprise and luck can be for success, which in the long run comes only to the one who combines daring with cool thinking.
— General Adolf Galland, Luftwaffe.

The most important thing to a fighter pilot is speed; the faster an aircraft is moving when he spots an enemy aircraft, the sooner he will be able to take the bounce and get to the Hun. If you have any advantage on him, keep it and use it. When attacking, plan to overshoot him if possible, hold fire until within range, then shoot and clobber him down to the last instant before breaking away. It's like sneaking up behind someone and hitting them with a baseball bat.
— Duane W. Beeson, P-51 pilot, 4th Fighter Group.

Months of preparation, one of those few opportunities, and the judgment of a split second are what makes some pilot an ace, while others think back on what they could have done.
— Colonel Gregory 'Pappy' Boyington, USMC.

How this can happen is a mystery to us.
— Lieutenant-General Ray Henault, Canada's Chief of Defence staff, regards the friendly fire deaths of four Canadian soldiers by a USAF F-16 in Afghanistan, 18 April 2002.

Success flourishes only in perseverance — ceaseless, restless perseverance.
— Baron Manfred von Richthofen

If he is superior then I would go home, for another day that is better.
— Colonel Erich 'Bubi' hartmann, GAF.

If I should come out of this war alive, I will have more luck than brains.
— Captain Manfred Baron von Richtofen, in a letter to his mother upon being decorated with the Iron Cross.

I was struck by the joy of those pilots in committing cold-blooded murder . . . Frankly, this is not cojones. This is cowardice.
— Madeleine Albright, US Ambassador to the UN, 1996, regards Cuban fighters shooting down unarmed American Cessnas.

I scooted for our lines, sticky with fear. I vomited brandy-and-milk and bile all over my instrument panel. Yes, it was very romantic flying, people said later, like a knight errant in the clean blue sky of personal combat.
— attributed to W. W. Windstaff, an alleged pseudonym of an American pilot flying with the British RFC.

There’s something wonderfully exciting about the quiet sing song of an aeroplane overhead with all the guns in creation lighting out at it, and searchlights feeling their way across the sky like antennae, and the earth shaking snort of the bombs and the whimper of shrapnel pieces when they come down to patter on the roof.
— John Dos Passos, letter written in Bossano, Italy while serving in the American Red Cross Ambulance Service to his friend Rumsey Marvin. 18 February 1918.

It was no picnic despite what anyone might say later . . . . Most of us were pretty scared all the bloody time; you only felt happy when the battle was over and you were on your way home, then you were safe for a bit, anyway.
— Colin Gray, 54 Squadron RAF, W.W.II.

There is no question about the hereafter of men who give themselves in such a cause. If I am called upon to make it, I shall go with a grin of satisfaction and a smile.
— Lieutenant David Endicott Putnam, America's first 'Ace of Aces,' in a letter to his mother. He was shot down by German ace Georg von Hantelmann. 12 September 1918

Won't it be nice when all this beastly killing is over, and we can enjoy ourselves and not hurt anyone? I hate this game.
— Captain Albert Ball, RFC, in letters to his father and fiancée. Ball was the first British ace idolized by the public, 44 victories when killed in action. 6 May 1917.

After a scrap I usually drink my tea through a straw.
— Derek Robinson, 'Piece of Cake.'

The heavens were the grandstands and only the gods were spectators. The stake was the world, the forfeit was the player's place at the table, and the game had no recess. It was the most dangerous of all sports and the most fascinating. It got in the blood like wine. It aged men forty years in forty days. It ruined nervous systems in an hour.
— Elliott White Springs, 13 victories WWI.

. . . It is as though horror has frozen the blood in my veins, paralyzed my arms, and torn all thought from my brain with the swipe of a paw. I sit there, flying on, and continue to stare, as though mesmerised, at the Cauldron on my left.
— Ernst Udet, ‘My life as Aviator,’ 1935.

I counted them all out and I counted them all back.
— Brian Hanranan, carefully worded broadcast regards the number of British aeroplanes involved in (and potentially lost in) the raid on Port Stanley. BBC news, 1 May 1982.

I suppose I'm as good as the next guy, but that's about all. Only reason I'm still flying while a lot of other great guys are gone is because I've had the breaks so far. I believe though, that the breaks are going to continue my way. The minute a flyer gets the notion that his number is up, he's finished. I start out, and know I'm coming back, and that's all there is to it.
Fear? You bet your life. But it's always on the way up. Then you get to thinking about a lot of things, but that all leaves you as you reach combat. Then there's a sense of great excitement, a thrill you can't duplicate anywhere. Then there can be no fear, no thought of life or death, no dream of yesterday or tomorrow.
What you have at that moment is — well, it may sound strange, but it's actually fun. The other guy has his chance, too, and you've got to get him before he gets you. Yes, I think it is the most exciting fun in the world.
— Lt. Col. Robert B. "Westy" Westbrook, USAAF, one of the leading aces of the Pacific, 'Los Angeles Examiner,' 20 June 1944.

It got more exciting with each war. I mean the planes were going faster than hell when I was flying a Mustang, but by the time I got to Nam, it scared the piss out of a lot of guys just to fly the damn jets at full speed. Let alone do it in combat.
— Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

He who has the height controls the battle.
He who has the sun achieves surprise.
He who gets in close shoots them down.
— anon.


Dicta Boelcke• Try to secure advantages before attacking. If possible, keep the sun behind you.
• Always carry through an attack when you have started it.
• Fire only at close range, and only when your opponent is properly in your sights.
• Always keep your eye on your opponent, and never let yourself be deceived by ruses.
• In any form of attack it is essential to assail your opponent from behind.
• If your opponent dives on you, do not try to evade his onslaught, but fly to meet it.
• When over the enemy's lines never forget your own line of retreat.
• For the Staffel: attack on principle in groups of four or six. When the fight breaks up into a series of single combats, take care that several do not go for one opponent.
— Hauptmann Oswald Boelcke, 1916. Germany's first ace, died in 1916 with 40 victories.
Whatever Boelcke told us was taken as Gospel!
— Baron Manfred von Richthofen




The P-38 was generally considered the queen of fighters in the Pacific. But it was a complex aircraft and required a great deal of time to learn to fly well. Once mastered, however, it was a wonder, plus providing what was perceived to be twin-engined reliability. Fighter pilots in the southwest Pacific area (and probably elsewhere) tended to describe fighters as types of women. The P-39 was a sexy slut, lazy and bad-tempered. The P-40 was a bold and brassy, a tom boy. The P-47 was heavy and dull, a big farm girl. The P-51 was honest and hardworking, a good wife. The P-38 was lean and coltish, a rich debutante who, once you broke down her defenses, proved to be a tiger who would leave claw marks down you
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HighTone


The Bell boys had some rough fights with the Tainan Kokutai in the April-May-June period, and had enough respect for their foes to say they flew "Double Zeros"--each Japanese pilot was twice as good as he had any right to be.