“According to Goering and the Luftwaffe High Command, they were supposed to be the fighter elite.”

And for the moment the whole burden of the war rested on the few hundred German fighter pilots on the Channel coast.

Or by bad luck can suffer from frustration or develop complexes they may never rid themselves of again.

We couldn’t stand it. Not in the airplanes of World War II.

Which in the long run comes only to the one who combines daring with cool thinking.

The war was lost perhaps, when it was started. At least it was lost in the winter of ’42, in Russia.

That day we could have stopped the American daytime bombing offensive, that’s for sure.

You could smell them because of the oil they were burning.

I was to give proof that this jet was a superior fighter.

Accompanied by a whistling sound, my jet shot through the air.

I made a written report which is still today in existence.

Superior technical achievements – used correctly both strategically and tactically

Never abandon the possibility of attack.

“He who wants to protect everything, protects nothing,” is one of the fundamental rules of defense.

During the Battle of Britain the question “fighter or fighter-bomber?” had been decided once and for all

I had to inspect all fighter units in Russia, Africa, Sicily, France, and Norway. I had to be everywhere.

When I was fired from my post as General of the Fighter Arm

Do everything you ask of those you command.

From the time I was twelve years old until I retired last year at the age of fifty-seven, the Army was my life. I loved commanding soldiers and being around people who had made a serious commitment to serve their country.

When placed in command, take charge.

I feel I am stuck in memories of ours there is no past or the future but a series of moments halted without a given command. And time has stopped making sense.

If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes

Nature cannot be commanded except by being obeyed.

All acquired power consists in command over some of the powers of other man.

I am a force of nature. I command an audience by just my mere presence.