The first rule of all air combat is to see the opponent first. Like the hunter who stalks his prey and maneuvers himself unnoticed into the most favourable position for the kill, the fighter in the opening of a dogfight must detect the opponent as early as possible in order to attain a superior position for the attack.
If we would have had the 262 at our disposal - even with all the delays - if we could have had in '44, ah, let's say three hundred operational, that day we could have stopped the American daytime bombing offensive, that's for sure.
I never did get hit, and neither did any of the leaders that I flew wing for.
One thing every Army pilot knows is that there is no such thing as a routine mission.
I was put in the Air Corps. I was never educated to serve in the military, but soon my activities in the American Air Corps became very interesting to me.
Air power is indivisible. If you split it up into compartments, you merely pull it to pieces and destroy its greatest asset, its flexibility.
In 2001, I was an Air Force lieutenant colonel and A-10 fighter pilot stationed in Saudi Arabia, in charge of rescue operations for no-fly enforcement in Iraq and then in Afghanistan.
I've been as a pilot involved in the Gulf War. And then, in the No-Fly Zone.
Everything in the air that is beneath me, especially if it is a one seater . . . is lost, for it cannot shoot to the rear.
I could not claim them because I was not supposed to be flying in combat.
