Wwii Pilot Quotes

Of the twenty-eight thousand German fighter pilots to see combat in WWII, only twelve hundred survived the war.

Well, what's Cecilia say today?” he asked, not bothering to rise. “Can’t believe you two write each other every day. Doesn't it get boring? 'Dear Joseph, I went to town today and bought an egg. Then I boiled it and had breakfast.

The castle of Enysfarne was a dark and towering force that hovered over what was left of my innocence. It contained my destiny, of that I had no doubt whatsoever; a fate that threatened to wipe the blush off my face and turn me into the man my father always wanted me to be... Veronica Somerset, Dragonfly.

Bong may have been a better shot but, Tommie was the best fighter pilot in the Pacific by far.

the twenty-eight thousand German fighter pilots to see combat in WWII, only twelve hundred survived the war.

I was amongst them – the first female pilot who had got admission to the Sturmoviks…Since my childhood I’d been lucky enough to meet good people. Wherever I studied, wherever I worked I would meet loyal friends, kind-hearted tutors. I was trained at the factory school by the old craftsman Goubanov, I was assisted by the engineer Aliev, who was the shift boss, in my transfer to the most important sector of operations – the tunnel. I was trained by the superb instructor Miroevskiy in the aeroclub, the secretary of the Ulyanovsk District Comsomol Committee gave me a hand at a very hard moment of my life, then there was Maria Borek from Leningrad, the Secretary of the Smolensk District Comsomol Committee, the Commissar of the Smolensk aeroclub…Was it really possible to count all those who had warmed my soul with their sympathy and human kindness and helped me to realize my dream!

My name's not Jerry,” he grumbled, raising his head. “I know, but it's the only way I can get your attention, kid.” “What did you want?” Japhet muttered. “I said, do you have a girl?” Japhet squinted at him and rubbed his nose. “A girl?” he asked. “Yeah. You do know what a girl is, don't you? Female version of the male? Whole lot prettier. Sweet temperament. Heard they're great for marrying. Thought a handsome, half starved and nearly dead Jew like you would have one of those by now.

I was happiest in the sky—at dawn when the quietness of the airwas like a caress, when the noon sun beat down and at dusk whenthe sky was drenched with the fading light. Think of me there and remember me…” - Cornelia Fort

five

The pilot was killed when his parachute did not open.

When World War One broke out in 1914, planes were initially used for intelligence gathering. The machines, which moved faster than any man made device had ever, flew at approximately 80 miles per hour. No plane in WWI flew faster than 145mph, and that was at the very end of the war.               Of course, neither side wanted the other to spy on its troop movements, so within a very short period of time, pilots were trying to bring each other down. Initially, the first dogfights, strange as it may seem, were fought with grappling hooks hanging below the plane, grenades, and ramming. This was both highly inefficient and highly dangerous (for everyone involved). The first plane-to-plane combat was on the Eastern Front where a Russian pilot, who probably meant to graze his enemy, crashed his plane into an Austro-Hungarian machine. He and the two man crew of the Austrian plane were killed.               Soon, pilots began shooting at each other with pistols and the single shot rifles of the time. You can guess how effective this was.

The British air force desperately needed planes for their military, and the US had lots of planes but couldn’t sell them to the British, because that would count as selling weapons to a country at war. So, the States enlisted the help of their neighbors, Britain’s colony Canada. American pilots flew their planes to the border between Canada and the United States, which was mostly farmland, and landed them in the fields, and left them there. Then overnight Canadian pilots would cross down into the States and tow the planes north into Canadian lands.

The P-39 "Aircobra" had its big, heavy, Allison piston engine mounted behind its single-seat cockpit. The spinning propeller shaft ran between the pilot's legs up to the nose. It was one of the least successful fighter aircraft of WWII.

damn

hell

freighters,

now and had a merry smile on his face. ‘Well, goddammit, boys! If I ain’t just remembered! There’s a whorehouse open all night long just outside Pens’cola! You’re sure you won’t come with me?’ We were sure. He dropped us at the main gate of the station with cheery shouts of farewell and drove off about 1.30 in the morning to ‘round off his evening’. We were soon to learn that certain ‘Southern gentlemen’ dropped in to the local brothel with the easy nonchalance Englishmen pop into their local pub—but without their wives, of course! Generally speaking, it was rare for us to leave the station other than at weekends. Our working hours were long and our leisure hours short; so we had to find our entertainment within the station. However, almost every day we found time to swim in the lagoon which separates the mainland from Santa Rosa Island, where the big flying-boats taxied in and out, the deep rumble of their Pratt and Whitneys music to our ears. We became expert with surf-boards—rectangles of wood about the size of a large tea-tray with a pair of rope reins, towed behind a fast motor-boat. Was it the fore-runner of water-skis? The technique seems to have been virtually the same. But, whatever one’s leisure activities, life

In the years following WWII, American helicopter pioneers like Sikorsky, Frank Piasecki, Larry Bell, Stanley Hiller, Charlie Kaman and others continued their research and development, making progress in improving performance and reliability.

Seawater Two - Adventures in West Africa is part of a series of books illustrating the life and times of Captain Hank Bracker. Seawater Two follows his adventures as a young Ship's Captain and Harbor Pilot in Liberia, West Africa. This book takes the reader for a boat ride along the dangerous coast of Africa and into the interior by river, during the post WWII years. Being a no holds barred book it describes the environment, culture and personal encounters with the people of Liberia. It's not the kind of book you would want to put down until you have savored every page.  

this small effort will encourage you to read further.               All of the major wars had their fighter ace heroes: Canadian George Beurling, Americans Richard Bong, “Gabby” Gabreski, and Gregory Boyington. The Japanese who owned the skies over Asia and the Pacific in the first years of the war had more than their share of fighter aces. The Russians had multiple aces as did the French and  the Finns who fought against the USSR from 1940-44.               Each of these men helped develop aerial warfare as we know it today, and many of their aerial feats are still taught in fighter pilot programs the world over.

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