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

I could never be so lucky again

I have been luckier than the law of averages should allow. I could never be so lucky again.

The country will some day pay for the stupidities of those who were in the majority on this commission. They know as much about the future of aviation as they do about the sign writing of the Aztecs.

The function and Navy in any future war will be to support the dominant air arm.

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!

Just try to make the world a better place for your having been here.

The first lesson is that you can't lose a war if you have command of the air, and you can't win a war if you haven't.

Adolf Galland said that the day we took our fighters off the bombers and put them against the German fighters, that is, went from defensive to offsensive, Germany lost the air war. I made that decision and it was my most important decision during World War II. As you can imagine, the bomber crews were upset. The fighter pilots were ecstatic.

Just try to make the world a better place for your having been here.