Henry H. Arnold Quotes

Offense is the essence of air power.

America owes its present prestige and standing in the air world in large measure to the money, time and effort expended in aeronautical experimentation and research. Our future supremacy in the air depends on the brains and efforts of our engineers.

Our Air Force belongs to those who come from ranks of labor, management, the farms, the stores, the professions and colleges and legislative halls...Air Power will always be the business of every American citizen

To win a war, one must try and kill as many men and destroy as much property as you can. If you can get mechanical machines to do this, then you are saving lives at the outset.

The technical genius which could find answers was not cooped up in military or civilian bureaucracy, but was to be found in universities and in the people at large.

Strategic air attack is wasted if it is dissipated piecemeal in sporadic attacks between which enemy has an opportunity to readjust defenses or recuperate.

The idea which I carried out in the boys [sic] books was to give facts, interspersed by thrills and sensations, which would give the reader a comprehensive idea of the development of aviation. The thrills and sensations filled the boy's desire in that direction while he absorbed the facts.

I saw this propellerless plane taxiing around the air field and making short flights. I knew then and there I must get the plans and specifications of that jet plane back to the United States.

A modern, autonomous, and thoroughly trained Air Force in being at all times will not alone be sufficient, but without it there can be no national security.

As a nation we were not prepared for World War II. Yes, we won the war, but at a terrific cost in lives, human suffering, and material, and at times the margin was narrow. History alone can reveal how many turning points there were, how many times we were near losing, and how our enemies’ mistakes pulled us through. In the flush of victory, some like to forget these unpalatable truths.

We tried to learn how to secure quantity production of airplanes the hard way. We never accepted the fundamental principle that an air-plane building program must be supervised by men who know how to design and construct airplanes.... Certainly, World War I definitely proved that trained aviation personnel can be turned out much faster than we can turn out airplanes. The truth is, the foundation for any workable production plan for aircraft must be built up in time of peace.