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!

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.

The four cornerstones of character on which the structure of this nation was built are: Initiative, Imagination, Individuality and Independence.

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.

Major Richard Bong was an example of the tragic and terrible price we must pay to maintain principles of human rights, of greater value than life itself. This gallant Air Force hero will be remembered because he made his final contribution to aviation in the dangerous role of test pilot of an untried experimental plane, a deed that places him among the stout-hearted pioneers who gave their lives in the conquest of sky and space.