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

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

Flying is one of the safest jobs in the Army as long as you don't drop out. If you do drop out, you are a dead man, and dropping out means, usually, that you have made a mistake or let go of your grip.

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.

Courage is about doing what you're afraid to do.

If a thing is old, it is a sign that it was fit to live. The guarantee of continuity is quality.

The smallest amount of vanity is fatal in aeroplane fighting. Selfdistrust rather is the quality to which many a pilot owes his protracted existence.