Not quite understanding modern outrage

[Gil Boyd]

Bob,
Yes wasn't it something along the lines............" Don't fly over England again as we are getting our arses kicked, by a better plane the SPITFIRE".
All joking aside...........didn't he tell Hitler he would win the war in the air if he had a squadron of Spitfires............that took him off Hitlers Christmas card list instantly.
Bit rough about the badging as I know the guys fly the 109's at Duxford Airshows all marked up!

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[Bob Womack]

Bob,
Yes wasn't it something along the lines............" Don't fly over England again as we are getting our arses kicked, by a better plane the SPITFIRE".
All joking aside...........didn't he tell Hitler he would win the war in the air if he had a squadron of Spitfires............that took him off Hitlers Christmas card list instantly.
Bit rough about the badging as I know the guys fly the 109's at Duxford Airshows all marked up!

That was what then-Major Adolph Galland said to Reichmaschall Göring during the Battle of Britain.



Göring had just come to France and had spend a nice long while royally chewing out his two primary fighter commanders (Galland, Gruppenkommandeur of Jagdgeschwader 26, and Major Werner Mölders, Gruppenkommandeur of Jagdgeschwader 51) because he felt the fighter pilots were being cowardly by not flying close escort to the bombers. Some objected that they didn't have the fuel to do so but Göring wouldn't hear of it and demanded close escort. Then Göring had one of his famous mercurial changes of temper and said, 'Come now, I've chastised you enough. What can I get for you.' Mölders kept his lip buttoned but Galland, blurted out, "A squadron of Spitfires!" That toasted Göring pretty well. The truth was that uder the best conditions the BF-109e that they were flying had only about ten minutes combat time once it reached the fighting areas in England so the locally-based British interceptors could engage them until they ran dry or used enough fuel that they had to ditch in the Channel on the way back. Formation flying ate up far more fuel than having bombers and fighters fly over at their most economical speed and do a rendezvous. That, and Galland knew that fighters lost the initiative if they were tied to formation flying with the bombers.

Bob