Unfortunately, Galland wasn't always like that, If you read recollections from several pilots who flew with him, you find that he could be nasty and arrogant too, with many fellow pilots accusing him of racking up his score at the expense of losing wingmen. He was noted for suffering from what the German pilots called 'Halsweh' (a sore throat), i.e. he was desperate to get a Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds dangling from his neck - in competition with Werner Moelders.
Here's one example of how hearltess Galland could be in his quests for victories at the expense of the 'Katschmarek' (faithful family servant) as the wingmen referred to themselves: When flying with JG26, Ulrich Stienhilper (author of Spitfire on my Tail - great book by the way) relates that he heard the frightened voice of one of the inexperienced JG26 pilots calling out for assistance: 'Spitfire hinter mir' (There's a Spitfire behind me). A few seconds later, the same voice urgently repeated 'Spitfire immer noch hinter mir, Was soll ich tun? Immer noch hinter mir!' (Spitfire still behind me, what should I do? He's still behind me). Galland's voice came over the radio: 'Aussteigen, sie bettnasser!' (Bale out, you bedwetter!).
Not exactly an example of inspired leadership. Contrast this with James E 'Johnny' Johnson's account of Galland's famous foe, Doulgas Bader in the same situation, which Johnson recounts in his book Wing Leader (also a great book, probably the best one of its kind in fact). When Johnson was coming back from France in his Spitfire after a mission, he got left behind the main squadron as they withdrew. With German fighters on his tail and desperately circling, there was no way he could disengage. Fortunately for Johnson, another withdrawing Spitfire pilot glanced backwards and saw Johnson's aircraft trying to extricate itself. He immediately reported it to Bader with the call: 'There's a Spit in trouble back there'. Johnson had been too busy trying to fend the German fighters off to use the radio, but now he blurted out: 'It's me, Johnny'. Bader immediately radioed him and said that it would be okay, they were coming back to help him out, whereupon he wheeled the entire squadron around and headed back toward France and Johnson's predicament. Johnson recalls that the moment he heard Bader's voice reassuring him, he felt a whole lot better, and knew it would be okay, which is a great example of the positive benefits good leadership can imbue.
To be fair though, without actually being there at both these events, it is hard to judge them objectively, and it is apparent in Steinhilper's book that he has (not without some justification) a bit of a chip on his shoulder where Galland is concerned. We do not know, for example, how much fuel the aircraft had left in both examples (probably not much in both cases). And Bader could be arrogant at times too, of course.
There is no doubt Galland was a very good shot and most of the time he was a pretty good leader too (Steinhilper's book also details an example of this when he recounts how Galland made him fly twenty perfect circuits and landings in a FW Stosser after Steinhilper had crashed a brand new bf109E on landing). Notably, Galland did famously stand up to Goering quite a few times at the risk of his career as a fighter pilot (his request for a squadron of Spitfires being one famous example), which took some guts and is clearly an admirable trait. But Galland was far from a saint, and his own memoirs from WW2 are a bit revisionist to say the least, although ironically many copies of this book do in fact have a forward written by Douglas Bader.
Galland and other veterans from the Condor Legion were known to be nasty and contemptuous with Luftwaffe pilots who had not served in Spain, and it is this attitude which was to some degree responsible for the Luftwaffe not doing as well as it could have when it came to experienced pilots nurturing the new guys. Although he is certainly one of the more enigmatic, interesting, and difficult to understand personalities of all those who flew fighters in WW2.
Whatever the truth may be, the story of him flying by the training aircraft and saluting it is one of the nicer ones to come out of that terrible war.
Chock