Air Power Quotes - Page 4

• We're at a real time of transition here in terms of future aviation. What's going to be manned? What's going to be unmanned? There are those who see [the JSF] as the last manned fighter/bomber. And I'm one that's inclined to believe it-whether it's right or not.

  Michael Mullen

  Military, Real, Believe

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• Whatever the lengths to which others may go, His Majesty's Government will never resort to the deliberate attack on women and children and other civilians for purposes of mere terrorism.

  Neville Chamberlain

  Children, Government, May

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• The cavalry, in particular, were not friendly to the aeroplane, which it was believed, would frighten the horses.

  Walter Alexander Raleigh

  Horse, Friendly, Aviation

  Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh, Henry Albert Jones (1922). “The War in the Air: Being the Story of the Part Played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force ...”, The Clarendon Press

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• We were once told that the aeroplane had "abolished frontiers"; actually it is only since the aeroplane became a serious weapon that frontiers have become definitely impassable.

  George Orwell

  Weapons, Serious, Aviation

  George Orwell (1968). “The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell: In front of your nose, 1945-1950”

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• I will ignore all ideas for new works and engines of war, the invention of which has reached its limits and for whose improvement I see no further hope.

  Frontinus

  War, Ideas, New Work

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• The decision to rely heavily on high-altitude air power, target urban infrastructure and repeatedly attack heavily populated towns and villages has reflected a deliberate trade-off of the lives of American pilots and soldiers, not with those of their declared Taliban enemies, but with Afghan civilians... There will be no official two-minute silence for the Afghan dead, no newspaper obituaries or memorial services attended by the prime minister, as there were for the victims of the twin towers.

  Seumas Milne

  Air, Two, Silence

  " The innocent dead in a coward's war" by Seumas Milne, www.theguardian.com. December 19, 2001.

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• Is it likely that an aircraft carrier or a cruise missile is going to find a person?

  Donald Rumsfeld

  September 11, Aircraft Carriers, Aviation

  Donald Rumsfeld, United States. Dept. of Defense. Historical Office (2001). “Public statements of Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, 2001”

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• What's the sense of sending $2 million missiles to hit a $10 tent that's empty?

  George W. Bush

  September 11, Tents, Aviation

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• This counter-terrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out Isil wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground. This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years.

  Barack Obama

  Safe Haven, Years, Air

  "Obama Declares War on Syria". Interview with Mike Whitney, www.counterpunch.org. September 12, 2014.

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• 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.

  Jimmy Doolittle

  Military, War, Air

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• Believe me, Germany is unable to wage war.

  David Lloyd George

  War, Believe, Germany

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• War is a nasty, dirty, rotten business. It's all right for the Navy to blockade a city, to starve the inhabitants to death. But there is something wrong, not nice, about bombing that city.

  Sir Arthur Harris, 1st Baronet

  War, Nice, Dirty

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• I would attack any squadron blockading a port. Nothing could prevent me from dropping out of the clear blue sky on to a battleship with 400 kilos of explosives in the cockpit. Of course it is true that the pilot would be killed, but everything would blow up, and that's what counts.

  Jules Vedrines

  Blow, Sky, Blue

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• How could they possibly be Japanese planes?

  Husband E. Kimmel

  Aviation, Airpower, Planes

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• The sky over London was glorious, ochre and madder, as though a dozen tropic suns were simultaneously setting round the horizon . . . Everywhere the shells sparkled like Christmas baubles.

  Evelyn Waugh

  Sky, Horizon, Shells

  Evelyn Waugh (1994). “The Sword of Honour Trilogy”

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• That idea is so damned nonsensical and impossible that I'm willing to stand on the bridge of a battleship while that nitwit tries to hit if from the air.

  Newton D. Baker

  Air, Bridges, Ideas

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• The Navy can lose us the war, but only the Air Force can win it. Therefore our supreme effort must be to gain overwhelming mastery in the Air. The Fighters are our salvation . . . but the Bombers alone provide the means of victory. . . . In no other way at present visible can we hope to overcome the immense military power of Germany.

  Winston Churchill

  Military, War, Mean

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• I have a mathematical certainty that the future will confirm my assertion that aerial warfare will be the most important element in future wars, and that in consequence not only will the importance of the Independent Air Force rapidly increase, but the importance of the army and navy will decrease in proportion.

  Giulio Douhet

  War, Independent, Army

  General Giulio Douhet (2014). “Command Of The Air”, p.139, Pickle Partners Publishing

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• The best defence of the country is the fear of the fighter. If we are strong in fighters we should probably never be attacked in force. If we are moderately strong we shall probably be attacked and the attacks will gradually be bought to a standstill. . . . If we are weak in fighter strength, the attacks will not be bought to a standstill and the productive capacity of the country will be virtually destroyed.

  Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding

  Country, Strong, Aviation

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• And where is the Prince who can afford to so cover his country with troops for its defense, as that ten thousand men descending from the clouds, might not in many places do an infinite deal of mischief, before a force could be brought together to repel them?

  Benjamin Franklin

  Country, Men, Clouds

  Benjamin Franklin (2014). “The Papers of Benjamin Franklin: Volume 41: September 16, 1783, through February 29, 1784”, p.478, Yale University Press

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• The greatest contributor to the feeling of tension and fear of war arose from the power of the bombing aeroplane. If all nations would consent to abolish air bombardment . . . that would mean the greatest possible release from fear.

  Ernest Rutherford

  War, Mean, Air

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• It seems to me that the moment has come when the question of bombing of German cities simply for the sake of increasing the terror, though under other pretexts, should be reviewed...I feel the need for more precise concentration upon military objectives, such as oil and communications behind the immediate battle-zone, rather than on mere acts of terror and wanton destruction, however impressive.

  Winston Churchill

  Military, Communication, Land

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• Pershing won [WWI] without even looking into an airplane, let alone gong up in one. If they had been of such importance he'd have tried at least a ride. . . . We'll stick to the army on the ground and the battleships at sea.

  John W. Weeks

  Airplane, Army, Sea

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• Would not the sight of a single enemy airplane be enough to induce a formidable panic? Normal life would be unable to continue under the constant threat of death and imminent destruction.

  Giulio Douhet

  Airplane, Sight, Enemy

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• The weapon where the man is sitting in is always superior against the other.

  Erich Hartmann

  Men, Sitting, Weapons

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