The Right To Bear SLR's

[ww2John]

As a self-employed person who travels a great deal for work, I regularly seek out "photo-ops" of Warbirds, especially areas that I have not been to before and/or unlikely to return to anytime soon.

Like Tulio, I have been known to drive several (hundred) miles out of my way to view a rare bird, or two, or...

Whenever I am going to try to photograph something on "guarded" property, I work hard to get permission and to make advance arrangements to safely photograph the object of my desires.

Working in advance is the key. I have very rarely been turned down in my requests (especially working in advance with the Public Affairs officers) and regularly get escorted to the a/c I want to shoot and escorted back off the "secure area"...and this includes on to USAF Bases, albeit usually only a few hundred feet to their "gate guards" on outside static display.

Being persistently polite and flexible with my schedule has served me well and I have gotten good pictures as a result. I have always been treated with respect and courtesy, probably because that's how I try to work.

Now, with regards to Oshkosh...and air show "security". I have volunteered on the warbird line crew for 8 years (I'm still a "youngster" there). You probably would not believe what we see "civilians" do to aircraft on display...on a daily basis.

My "favorite" was the 5(?) year old who ran across the field full-tilt boogie, jumped up, swung on the gun barrels and hoisted himself up on the wing of an award-winning P51 mustang (that was fresh from a multi-year restoration) and proceded to dance around like an addled-brained chimpanzee while his folks laughed so hard they almost cried, before I could get over to the a/c and quietly ask the youngster to join me on the ground. I never raised my voice and pointed out several items on the P51 to the Chimpanzee before I even spoke to his parents. The parents did not think anything was wrong with their child's behavior and thought I was a plane nazi. Go figure. I just hope the Chimpanzee remembers his first encounter with a warbird and grows up to like warbirds.

So yes, probably sometimes I get a little "jumpy" trying to protect the a/c. The person in shorts with a camera on his hip who reaches under an aircraft and starts touching stuff could be a "civilian" acting stupid or a crew member of the a/c - I usually have no way of knowing unless I "intervene" (as I did above in keeping the general public from damaging a rare a/c) or if they are polite enough to introduce themselves.

I've gotten chastised by crew members when I asked if I could help them when they are touching an a/c, until I apologize and remind them I was looking after the best interests of the a/c. Then they generally thank me for being so attentive to my work on the line crew.

"Catch more flies with honey than with vinegar", my Grandmother used to say.

"Boomerang - Toomerang" said Mr. Rogers (what goes around...)

[Bill Greenwood]

I try to be very patient with CAP cadets and other kids. They certainly get carried away, but that is the fault of their instructon. I think they are just told to keep people from touching the planes, and not given much guidance or chance to use judgement. Remember they are there because they like aviation, they are working for free and sometimes long hours in bad weather. We don't need to make them feel that airplane owners are rude or elitest. If somebody as busy as Steve Hinton can be nice to the public, we all can. If you are a guard use your brain; it easy to see who is part to the crew and who meddling. Osh is not as much trouble as the big shows that attract to more general crowd.

[Punisher05]

Well said Bill.