Opinions of the Mid America Flight Museum

[Noha307]

I was curious what everyone's opinions of the Mid America Flight Museum were. They're a relatively new museum, so I don't I have a lot of history to go on, but from what I've seen so far, there's a couple of things of which I'm not a fan.

First, the "motto" of their museum is "For God & Country". I'm not here to start a discussion on the rightness or wrongness of religion – I have no problem with people believing whatever they want – but supporting or visiting the museum would make me feel uncomfortable. I think it's wrong for a museum to be involved in what I see as a form of evangelism.

Secondly, while I have to give them props for the frequency with which they put out excellent videos on their YouTube channel, they recently posted a three videos (1, 2, 3) that seemed to me to be essentially an infomercial for someone's cleaning product. Again, I have no problem with aviation museums thanking their sponsors – it's a necessary part of funding – but these extended demos came off as blatant product placement.

Does anyone else find fault with these things, or am I making a stink out of nothing?

[rc38pilot]

I know a few of their pilots and have heard nothing bad about the group... The museum has been adding to the collection at a rapid pace and looks to be flying most of it,a plus for all of us!!As for the motto,doesnt bother me a bit...The mission statement
http://www.historicalairtours.com/about.html is more important..Im hoping to meet more of them at osh if they come..

[Dan K]

Cheers for Scott Glover and the MAFM.

[C VEICH]

If you are uncomfortable with supporting or visiting them because of their motto then all I can offer is that you not support or visit them. I'm sure the owners would agree. Many of us, me included, would consider supporting them precisely because of their motto. That's the beauty of the good old USA. As a privately owned collection they are free to use any motto they like and even to engage in evangelism should they choose to do so. Although I have a hard time equating the motto "For God and Country" with evangelism. My .02 cents only of course.

[Tulio]

If looking at airplanes that we all like makes you uncomfortable because of the museum's moto, by all means, do not go visiting. Do not spend your money there. Do not support their preservation efforts.

How dare they, in the land of the free, and the home of the brave, dare to publicly state their religious and patriotic beliefs?

The gall of some people, to exercise their freedoms that the bill of rights grants to all of us?

I applaud and respect your objections, since they are covered by the same rights.

I understand that you will not visit them, lest you be make feel uncomfortable by their tenets, or worse yet, contaminated by their belief in God and Country.

Respectfully in opposition,


Tulio Soto

[k5083]

Noha307, I personally would not be bothered by either thing.

When I see something like "For God and Country" in a private organization's slogan, I just mentally shrug, think "OK, another guy who wants to tell me about his imaginary friend" and move on. If I heard that they tried to impose their religion on others, like Hobby Lobby did under its previous ownership or like Chick-Fil-A does, then I would not support them. Even the MAFM web site doesn't have enough religious content to be irritating. Anyway, we have enough church-state separation problems in our government right now that I cannot get too excited about private actors.

As for that other American god - commerce - I can get over that, too. At least the product is somewhat airplane-related and the videos might be of interest to airplane owners. Also, that YT channel seems to be that of a freelance aviation videographer who covers MAFM a lot, not the official MAFM channel. How the collection supports itself is their business.

Good luck and safe flying to Mr Glover. As the collection grows I hope it gets exhibited more widely.

August

[Lynn Allen]

I flew over there this past Saturday and had a great time. Mr. Golver has put together a really nice museum and it is growing. They treat you really well. I wouldn't judge the book by the cover here.

[thunderbolt47d]

Much ado about nothing! I have no issues with any of it and would be more inclined to support due to the motto. That's the beauty of freedom, they are free to have whatever motto they wish, you are free to support or not!

[Jesse C.]

Simple, stop watching their videos, don't visit their museum and move on.

[sandiego89]

....or am I making a stink out of nothing?....

I think so- as others have said you are very much entitled to your views on things and I respect that, but a motto and some sponsor endorsements are in my view pretty minor things to focus on when we have a museum that is actually growing, flying and keeping up to date on their web presence. Sounds like they are doing the important things well, but you can't make everyone happy.

I do get that some flag/god/veteran/for the troops waving can go over the top, especially if it seems contrived or they are trying too hard (and I say that as a flag loving, god loving, veteran). For example I did think the proposed new name for the Nut Tree Museum as "the American Center of Aviation and Freedom" was awkward at best. I had pictures in my mind of bad t-shirts with a crying bald eagle....

[Mark Allen M]

Amen! to all the above. ... I'm a believer. Just not a believer in the Hillbilly accents. Why can't these guys talk normal. Those poor guys who talk funny need "the healer" next to "the believer" lol


Joe Kasparoff's P-51C 43-25147, N51PR, Santa Maria, 1994 when he owned it. I attending this get together.
Photo: SDASM archives

[airknocker]

God, Country and Capitalism!

[Lynn Allen]

Amen! to all the above. ... I'm a believer. Just not a believer in the Hillbilly accents. Why can't these guys talk normal. Those poor guys who talk funny need "the healer" next to "the believer" lol


Joe Kasparoff's P-51C 43-25147, N51PR, Santa Maria, 1994 when he owned it. I attending this get together.
Photo: SDASM archives

I was there as well, Skip Holmes loaded up the wife and 2 kids in "The Believer" and departed...

[CH2Tdriver]

Well please don't visit any American Legion hall so as to avoid being made "uncomfortable"...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_aris_et_focis

Pro aris et focis is a Latin phrase used as the motto of many families, military regiments, and some educational institutions meaning "For God and country" or literally "For altars and hearths", but is used by ancient authors to express attachment to all that was most dear and venerable. It could be more idiomatically translated "for hearth and home;" as the Latin term "aris", generally refers to either the altars of the spirits of the house (the Lares) and is often used as a synecdoche for the family home. Thus the famous Latin orator and philosopher Cicero uses the phrase to emphasize the importance of his argument in his philosophical work De Natura Deorum

"For God and country" is the motto of the American Legion.

In May 2011, the phrase "For God and country" was used as a confirmation signal by U.S. Navy SEALs during the death of Osama bin Laden in Abottabad, Pakistan. On his radio, the U.S. Navy SEAL responsible for killing bin Laden reported over a radio, “For God and country, Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo.” After a pause, he added, “Geronimo EKIA” (enemy killed in action).

GOD Bless America!

[p51]

I was curious what everyone's opinions of the Mid America Flight Museum were. They're a relatively new museum, so I don't I have a lot of history to go on, but from what I've seen so far, there's a couple of things of which I'm not a fan.

First, the "motto" of their museum is "For God & Country". I'm not here to start a discussion on the rightness or wrongness of religion – I have no problem with people believing whatever they want – but supporting or visiting the museum would make me feel uncomfortable. I think it's wrong for a museum to be involved in what I see as a form of evangelism.

I'm not religious at all, but you simply can't ignore that religion and military history go hand in hand. No atheists in foxholes, if you will.
Heck, I know plenty of people who are offended by violence in any form (the types who think violence never solved anything, even WW2 ending the Holocaust), they'd be offended to go into any military history museum at all.