"The enemy was not long in realising the futility of relying upon flying service to drive off our inquisitive machines. " - Captain Addison, 1 Sqn AFC Jan 1918.

" Lieutenant Schmarje has crashed, and another escort is required in his place. " - Intercepted German wireless message 09/01/1917 after Smith and Ellis of 1 Sqn AFC engaged a German aircraft over Beersheeba. It was Smith's first confirmed victory.

" we flew round in circles, the E.A. doing numerous Immelman turns, apparently with the object of getting on my tail. " - Captain R.M Smith, 1 Sqn AFC.

"During one week in June hostile aeroplanes crossed our lines 100 times - mainly on the tip and run principle. They came over at altitudes from which accurate observation was impossible. " - Major R. Williams 1 Sqn AFC.

"Owing to the extraordinary lack of pilots, limited flying only can be carried out, in spite of the arrival of twenty new D.F.W's." - Flieger Abtielung 301 Diary entry, 15th of September 1918.

"Both of Blaxland's and one of my guns were jammed and, while we were clearing the stoppages, seven Fokkers appeared from the south and passed a few hundred feet above us. .... unable to resist the temptation to put a burst into one of them, I pulled up the nose of my SE5 and gave the rear left hand machine twenty rounds with the remaining serviceable gun." Capt E.R Dibbs, 2 Sqn AFC.

"Tiyaras", Bedouin name for an aeroplane which roughly translates to "female flying things".

"I am an Australian and I don't have any manners." - Lt Colonel Oswald Watt.

"You gained us absolute supremacy in the air, thereby enabling my cavalry, artillery, and infantry to carry out their work on the ground practically unmolested by hostile aircraft." - General Allenby in a speech to 1 Squadron AFC at Kantara in February of 1919 before the squadron disembarked for Australia.

"Then there was a crashing sound and I was blinded. Two bullets had pierced the wind-screen in front of my eyes and dust from the triplex glass had been flung into my eyes." - Captain G.C Wilson, 2 Sqn AFC on being struck by ground fire while strafing.

"It was Richthofen's Circus again, all were red machines, except for one black and yellow Albatros." - Captain A.H Cobby on an engagement on the 21st of March 1918.

"The Bruay Aerodrome was a busy spot. Sometimes five squadrons of aircraft were lined up on the green - loading bombs and ammunition, checking sights, filling up with petrol, and overhauling machines. " - Captain Garnet F. Malley on the German Advance of March 1918.

"Australian pilots who had fought in the infantry during the battles of the Somme in 1916, felt outraged on finding the Germans not only again had possesion of Bapaume, but advancing also on Pozieres, Albert and the River Ancre." - Captain G.F Malley on the German Advance of March 1918.

"It has been experienced, that on quiet fronts greater numbers of enemy aircraft are destroyed by sending out comparitively smaller formations and thus encouraging the enemy to fight." - Major A. Murray Jones Commanding Officer, 2 Sqn AFC in a report on the effectiveness of the RAF Circus Wings

"I shot the pilot's cockpit and centre section section to pieces, the pilot did not move after crashing." - Captain A.H Cobby on strafing a Pfalz he had shot down.

"I was getting shot about and firing at anything I saw, when a Fokker from somewhere again got a burst into me. One bullet, an explosive smashed the breech and crank handle of one of my guns and sent a splinter through my nose." - Lt Leonard L.E Taplin on the dogfight of 5th of September 1918 against Jasta 26 and 27 in which Taplin was shot down and became a POW.

"The leader, a red and white tailed Fokker pulled up and went at it head on. I got a good burst into his radiator, and he went down in a glide - not out of control, just engine out of action." - Lt Leonard L.E Taplin on the opneing of the engagement of the 5th of September 1918 when he was shot down and became a POW.

"4.Offensive Patrols: Offensive patrols will work in an area bounded by Armentieres - Perenchies - Haubourdin - Provin - Pont a Venin. They will on no account fly above 10 000 feet, and if all ammunition is not expended in combats machines will attack ground targets before leaving area. " - Extract from an operations order from Major Murray Jones C.O, 2 Sqn AFC during September 1918.

"As I turned towards Blaxland, he zoomed suddenly and I followed him. Together we climbed above the German machines, which , apparently expecting a renewed attack, dived away east." Capt E.R Dibbs, 2 Sqn AFC.

"The four German machines kept on behind me and above me, but at last only one was left in the chase, and he, we found afterwards, was Felmy." - Maj R.M. Drummond 111 Sqn RFC on an escape from deep within Turkish lines.

"The mastery of the air has unfortunately for some weeks passed over to the English." - a captured report from Nazareth in September 1918 accredited to General Kress von Kressenstein.