Quotable Quotes - Adolf Galland quotes

Adolf Galland quotes

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

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“And most of these pilots were lost during the first five flights.” — Adolf Galland

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“First of all, you need speed. Manoeuvrability is good, but speed is the most important thing. Next, acceleration, which is important. Then climbing. I would not say this is the right order. A good mix of these, and a stable platform for your weapons, you need.” — Adolf Galland

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“Fuel in short supply during WWII in very rare cases only. In Africa, in Sicily, sometimes in Russia. But only for a short time.” — Adolf Galland

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“I could not claim them because I was not supposed to be flying in combat.” — Adolf Galland

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“I didn't have very many missions because I had been grounded already in late '41.” — Adolf Galland

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“I flew missions anyway. Absolutely against orders. But I knew that my friends in the same position had done it also.” — Adolf Galland

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“I flew the 109 for the first time in Spain. But my squadron didn't fully convert to 109s until after I left Spain and my squadron was taken over by Werner M//lders.” — Adolf Galland

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“I flew the Heinkel-51 biplane. But this was, at the time, already an obsolete fighter. Therefore, we used it only for ground support, strafing, and a little bombing in direct support of the Spanish infantry. This was a very great success.” — Adolf Galland

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“I had to inspect all fighter units in Russia, Africa, Sicily, France, and Norway. I had to be everywhere.” — Adolf Galland

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“I made a written report which is still today in existence. I have a photocopy of it, and I am saying that in production this aircraft could perhaps substitute for three propeller- driven aircraft of the best existing type. This was my impression.” — Adolf Galland

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“I personally was convinced that if this aircraft is a little bit further developed, the engines are more reliable, and the aircraft fuselage has been redesigned to nose-wheel, then it would be a perfect fighter.” — Adolf Galland

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“I think nobody can be made responsible when he said, "No, I don't like this aircraft" The airlines today, they have 27.000 or even more flight hours between engine changes. There was a tremendous development progress made during this time. It's unbelievable.” — Adolf Galland

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“I think the Lightning was an equal mistake.” — Adolf Galland

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“I would like to mention that I have flown the 262 first in May '43. At this time, the aircraft was completely secret. I first knew of the existence of this aircraft only early in '42 - even in my position. This aircraft didn't have any priority in design or production.” — Adolf Galland

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“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.” — Adolf Galland

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“In the last months we got pilots who had fifty hours total flying time, including five hours of the operational aircraft. It's not very much.” — Adolf Galland

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“It was amazing the procedure to start this prototype which was still sitting on a tail wheel; a lot of them were not able to bring the tail up, so they had painted a white stripe across the runway, and after passing this white stripe you had to use the brakes, shortly in order to get the tail off.” — Adolf Galland

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“It's unbelievable what one squadron of twelve aircraft did to tip the balance.” — Adolf Galland

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“Many pilots of the time were the opinion that a fighter pilot in a closed cockpit was an impossible thing, because you should smell the enemy. You could smell them because of the oil they were burning.” — Adolf Galland

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“Nine g's is good, if the pilot can stand it. We couldn't stand it. Not in the airplanes of World War II.” — Adolf Galland

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“Of course, the outcome of the war would not have been changed. The war was lost perhaps, when it was started. At least it was lost in the winter of '42, in Russia.” — Adolf Galland

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“On this point you had to rotate, or you were lost. At this time, the engines were very, very sensitive to handle.” — Adolf Galland

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“P-38s were not difficult to handle in combat. Many, many P-38 pilots are angry with me about this statement, but it's true.” — Adolf Galland

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“Pratically, the 162 had serious combats, uh, I would say a maximum of 10 times. It wasn't ready to go. There was an average time of 12 hours between engine changes.” — Adolf Galland

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“Sometimes numbers are the telling factor.” — Adolf Galland

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“The -51 was a good biplane. Of course, not very different from the airplane of WWI.” — Adolf Galland

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“The best thing was to go to a certain point and leave it, and then fly, and throttle back only when you are going to land.” — Adolf Galland

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“The German Luftwaffe always fought without any reserves. This is also the reason why we have pilots with extremely high numbers of victories.” — Adolf Galland

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“The Heinkel 162 - so-called "Volksjager"- was only one jet engine on top of the fuselage, behind the cockpit. This was a mistake of the same magnitude as the mistake to use the 262 as a fighter-bomber.” — Adolf Galland

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“The I-16 was one of the new generation of fighters. A fast airplane with retractable gear. And very manoeuvrable. You can say instable, therefore manoeuvrable.” — Adolf Galland

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“The Luftwaffe had preference and they got fuel as they needed it. Not so for our training. We had to shorten the training time of our pilots drastically.” — Adolf Galland

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“The Messerschmitt 262 is a good example that you can be successful with superior performance. But I think this was a unique situation.” — Adolf Galland

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“The throttles could only move very, very slowly, always watching the temperature, always watching. And even in throttling back, you could bust it, even being very careful.” — Adolf Galland

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“The total period averaged between engine changes was unbelievable - 12 hours! And since Hitler had given the order to use this aircraft only as a bomber, there was another mistake made: to build an even smaller aircraft with only one engine in top of the fuselage, behind the pilot.” — Adolf Galland

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“The whole concept was bad. But in this desperate situation, when somebody had a revolutionary idea, then he could really send it through.” — Adolf Galland

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“They were designated mainly to escort the bombers on long distance flights, but it was proven very soon - in the Battle of Britain - that the 110 had a strong armament, but not the acceleration, speed, not the maneuverability necessary to stand Spitfires or Hurricanes.” — Adolf Galland

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“This technology was just beginning. And, in addition, Germany was very poor on war materials, especially on chrome-nickel and other steel, which were needed for the blades.” — Adolf Galland

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“This would only come if you have a revolutionary change in technology like the jet brought about.” — Adolf Galland

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“We had at our disposal the first operational jet, which superseded by at least 150 knots the fastest American and English fighters. This was a unique situation.” — Adolf Galland

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“We have built a total of about 1250 of this aircraft, but only fifty were allowed to be used as fighters - as interceptors. And out of this fifty, there were never more than 25 operational. So we had only a very, very few.” — Adolf Galland

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“We have many, many pilots which have been wounded twelve or fifteen times during the war, but we had to use them. They were constantly in combat.” — Adolf Galland

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“We were trying to defend ourselves because our mission did not consist in fighting in the air. We were fighting against the ground only.” — Adolf Galland

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“When I was fired from my post as General of the Fighter Arm, I was to give proof that this jet was a superior fighter. And that's when we did it. I think we did it.” — Adolf Galland

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