WWI Fighter Pilots

When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No-one has ever collided with the sky. 

In flying I have learned that carelessness and overconfidence are usually far more dangerous than deliberately accepted risks. - Wilbur Wright in a letter to his father, September 1900 

The ultimate responsibility of the pilot is to fulfill the dreams of the countless millions of earthbound ancestors who could only stare skyward and wish.

There are old pilots and there are bold pilots. However, there are no old, bold pilots. 

When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.

— Leonardo Da Vinci  

 Sometimes, flying feels too God like to be attained by man. Sometimes, the world from above seems too beautiful, too wonderful, too distant for human eyes to see.

— Charles A. Lindbergh, The Spirit of St. Louis, 1953.

 Do not spin this aircraft. If the aircraft does enter a spin it will return to earth without further attention on the part of the aeronaut.

— first handbook issued with the Curtis-Wright flyer

 WWI reenactors--I loved all the people at the WWI picnic and fly-in.  They ALL knew immediately that my sons were WWI fighter pilots, unlike people we went trick-o-treating to (i.e. Are you a motorcycle rider? etc.)  Definitely my kind of people.