I've cheated the Grim Reaper more times than anyone I know, and I'll fight like a wildcat until they nail the lid of my pine box down on me.

I don't care what you cover the seats with as long as you cover them with assholes.

The experienced fighting pilot does not take unnecessary risks. His business in to shoot down enemy planes, not to get shot down. His trained hand and eye and judgment are as much a part of his armament as his machinegun, and a fiftyfifty chance is the worst he will take or should take except where the show is of the kind that . . . justifies the sacrifice of plane or pilot.

There is a peculiar gratification in receiving congratulations from one's squadron for a victory in the air. It is worth more to a pilot than the applause of the whole outside world.

I can give you a six-word formula for success: "Think things through - then follow through."

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

In this business, you find the enemy, then go after and destroy him. Everything else is rubbish!