"If we lose the war in the air, we lost the war and we lose it very quickly."

Lord Montgomery of Alamein

"Airpower, like modern courtship, offers gratification without commitment."

Eliot Cohen

"If I didn’t have air supremacy in Normandy, I wouldn’t be here." June 1944

President Dwight D Eisenhower

"[Air power is a force] coming from God knows where, dropping its bombs on God knows what, and going off God knows where."

Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, CIGS, 1920

"The aeroplane is the most offensive weapon that has ever been invented. It is a shockingly bad weapon of defence."

Lord Trenchard

The selection of objectives, the grouping of zones, and determining the order in which they are to be destroyed is the most difficult and delicate task in aerial warfare, constituting what may be defined as aerial strategy." The Command of the Air

Brigadier General Giulio Douhet

"Had I paid attention to the panacea-mongers who were always cropping up and hawking their wares, Bomber Command would have flitted continually from one thing to another during the whole period of my command." Bomber Offensive

'Bomber' Arthur Harris

"I shall never forger the date May 12 1944 .. on that day the technological war was decided. Until then we had managed to produce approximately as many weapons as the armed forces needed in spite of their considerable losses. But with the attack of nine hundred and thirty-five daylight bombers of the US Eight air Force upon several fuel plants in central and eastern Germany a new era in air war began. It meant the end of German armaments production."

Albert Speer

"The Lancaster surpassed all other types of heavy bomber. Not only could it take heavier bomb loads, not only was it easier to handle, not only were there fewer accidents with this than with any other type throughout the war, the casualty rate was also considerably below other types. I used the Lancaster alone for those attacks which involved the deepest penetration into Germany and were, consequently, the most dangerous. I would say this to those who placed that shining sword in our hands - Without your genius and efforts we could not have prevailed, for I believe the Lancaster was the greatest single factor in winning the war."

Excerpt from a letter, from Sir Arthur Harris to Sir Roy Dobson of Avro, the company which designed and built the Lancaster