Warbird Information Exchange

Rich,

Do Jim and Andrew have any plans to bring anything to Geneseo this year?

Pete

Weather was nice on Sunday and half of Saturday, but Thurs. evening through Friday night it was rain rain rain. I got there and set up in the drizzle on Thurs evening, then went to cut down bamboo on Friday for our PTO set up (we had the 40mm Bofors). Very miserable experience but that was my choice right?

Overall, it was a success but it looked to me like crowds were really down, esp on Sunday. I really think they need to get something new and fresh for 2014 in terms of aircraft, line up is great but been kind of stagnant the last few years. No matter what though, we'll be back next year. Nothing like sitting out in the evening, watching planes buzzing by, having a beer in a canteen cup, and then going to sleep in a tent with 3 B-25s parked 30 feet behind you.

Bill great photos, good to see you again!

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506th Fighter Group Historian
Member of Glidepath Photography

Does anyone have a clue what this is? I mean, is this a WW2 confirguration for a bike? I've never seen nor heard of anything like this before.

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Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

That motorbike has been visiting Reading for years. As I recall, it is a more modern bike than WWII, but it sure looks like and fits the flavor of the event.
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

The frame and engine appear to be a Ridley. The tank and fillet look like they're from something else. No idea what.

Mudge the researcher

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Land of the free because of the brave

Here are a couple more bikes that caught my eye at the event. Not sure on the authenticity, just thought they looked cool.

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Share your story: Rutgers Oral History Archive http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/

I want to comment on the show. I have participated in multiple roles there since 1998. If you have interest in WWII history, you need to come to this show. I can only compare my experience at this show to what I have heard about the past Old Rhinebeck shows. For the serious historian, Reading may seem "kitschy." And there are things there (like the guy dressed as the "Rocketeer") that seem out of place. But MAAM WWII weekend has become a collection place for everything that is pertinent to this important era. I'll relate a few stories about this year, and they are only this year's stories. Every year has had stories like this.

An acquaintance met up with his father's Stalag camp mate. He had hesitated meeting with him, but with a veteran at over 90 years old, I strongly suggested that he come to the show to meet up with him. When going through his father's paper work, he found the order for the Good Conduct Medal to his father. The name of the camp mate was also there on the order. He gave the original to his father's friend, having met him for the first time. It was a pretty powerful moment. I was thanked with a handshake and a copy of the order.

A friend came down with his son. The boy wanted to participate in the battle with his blank firing .45 pistol. I asked another good friend if he could go, and he hit the jackpot. He rode in a half track for the battle, got to fire an M-1 carbine, and had a huge smile on his face. Another convert to what we do, at 14 years old.

When I walked out to participate in the parade, there was a WWII veteran in a wheelchair who looked up at me in my uniform. He had a huge grin on his face, and he nodded at me. He looked away and as I watched, he continued with the same beaming grin as he looked around at the vehicles, planes, tents, and re-enactors.

I ran into Chuck Gardner. I haven't seen him in a year. He looked good. And his flying looked good- best landing in a P-51 of all the ones I watched.

I got in my friend's jeep with the father of the first-time re-enactor. The driver was the person who took me for my first jeep ride at 15, nearly 30 years ago. As we drove along in the parade, the guy who let me DRIVE a jeep for the first time got in with us, also about 30 years ago. Now I fly an aerial jeep- the L-5. What a full circle. Unfortunately, I didn't have it there due to a longer-than-expected annual.

As will continue to be the trend, less WWII veterans have come out. But the ones there seemed to enjoy the huge turnout, the airplanes, the sights, sounds, and smells of a terrible yet exciting time from nearly 70 years ago. Many find fault with what goes on at MAAM, and certainly no show is perfect. But asking for that is like asking for a perfect baseball game- they usually never happen, but the ones we watch or play in are always perfect to us. If you haven't been, you have to go sooner than later. I guarantee you'll have moments like I have had for 15 years. I guarantee you.... and I'll show you around the L-5.

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REMEMBER THE SERGEANT PILOTS!

Y'know, someone told me that this show was turning into what he termed, "a 40s comicon" and if someone showed as the freaking , that's a bit too much. I mean, if it's a fictional character that actually existed at the time of WW2, that's still a stretch, but I'd almost be willing to give the guy a pass to a degree. It's just gives the "I like planes but hate re-enactors - just don't ask me why" crowd more reasons to hate the hobby. Imagine someone looking to have their own smaller version of Reading, then seeing that. Perhaps said person will say, "Nah, I'd rather not risk that happening" and keep a similar event from occuring...

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Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

I attended Reading as a spectator for the first time in about 7 years. I have to say that the "comicon" aspects that I was expecting to see have been overhyped. There are so many good groups with serious living history displays, great homefront displays and very rare vehicles, that it's easy to miss the forest for the trees. The "comicon" types I saw (as well as most of the BOB paratroopers) were not actual participants but just sort of showed up. Hard to do anything about that. Is Reading perfect? No, but the vast majority of the re-enactors there are really really really good with displays that impressed me. So please don't judge the show on a few internet photos of crappy walk ons or some guy who thinks it's okay to dress up like oddball from Kelly's Heroes. The planes were first rate, the atmosphere was super and the price to get in was absolutely worth it.
Tom Bowers

If somebody avoids this show because somebody is going to be dressed in-accurately, they are of the same mindset as the people who say, "if it isn't in perfectly accurate, researched markings, I don't care to see it." I'm sorry I can't find 38 inch waist underwear to wear to complete the impression, but my jockeys do just fine. There was a guy dressed like "Oddball" from Kelly's Heroes, and the Rocketeer, and there is a group of women at the event who confuse period attire with that of period strumpet attire. But there were 30 Civil Air Patrol re-enactors, three real CAP airplanes with war history, and they had a good presence. The Naval Construction Battalion group has something new EVERY year, and the guy with the three-masted schooner tattoo on his chest is real authentic-looking. I know Tom knows the 701st Ordnance Battalion group and their layout was light but still very nice. The Russian re-enactors have a very authentic-looking layout. And much to my surprise, there were Chinese Nationalist Army re-enactors walking around! I'd never seen them before. I envy and admire Paul Smith's layout with his ETO Combat History L-4.

I'll say this, and no criticism is intended of the people I refer to, but the photographs of the airplanes posted here are a small part of what this show offers. I was impressed by the B-29, but was more impressed looking at it making passes over a Division-size tent city, with WWII Jimmy's driving by, and jeeps parked with all their equipment ready for use, soldiers marching by. Is it a 100% perfect, just-like-it-was, no-blemishes-visible event? Absolutely not- no show does.

This show is the standard, and many, many, many shows are trying to copy what they have done. Some are succeeding, but none of them have the moving inertia this show does. As we know happened at Old Rhinebeck, shows like this don't go on forever. Don't miss it while it is at its height.

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REMEMBER THE SERGEANT PILOTS!

I thought of the Comic-Con analogy myself, and think that in some ways it is apt, although if anything it flatters Reading. They do have the cosplay in common, but in every other way -- mainstream appeal, corporate support, number and wattage of celebrity guests, and revenue -- Comic-Con is more comparable to Oshkosh. MAAM could afford to bring in every worthwhile warbird east of the Mississippi if the defense, publishing, and Hollywood companies supported it the way the relevant industries support CC. That would change the nature of the event, of course, in a way a lot of the WW2W participants might not like. Sometimes I even get the feeling that a lot of those guys are disappointed when there's not enough mud!

August

Being a vintage bicycle guy myself (1936 Roadmaster) I am familiar with the bikes up at Reading. They are know as Wizzers or Wizzer clones using aftermarket tanks and engines..

Best explained by Wikipedia


If I recall that yellow one lost its brakes on the ramp back in 04, last time I was able to make it. They are a blast to ride and to tinker with.

I don't endorse the seller but this is the kit you can get to make one of your own.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/138cc-engine-ki ... cf&vxp=mtr

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Andrew King
Air Museum Director with no Museum to Direct
Open to Suggestions

Good post, FF. I wouldn't mind seeing photos here of some of the better reenactor camps.



Got any pics of them or know where I can view any? I saw the KMT flag, but didn't get over to see them. I happened to be attending with a friend of mine of Taiwanese descent, whose granddad flew B-24/C-87 and other aircraft over the hump, but other than him I didn't see another Asian guy on the field. (He had a great time, BTW - disappointed that Diamond Lil didn't appear, but fascinated to see some of the other types his granddad flew, and show them to his son.)

August

Fair enough. I've been a re-enactor since I was 5 years old, done almost every time frame a person can do (including current, but I was paid by the Army to do that ) and would love to do Reading someday (it being a horrible time of year to get time off where I work and more than 3000 miles away has something to do with why I've never gone). I've just been hearing more and more in recent year of what is I'm willing to accept is more the exception than the rule, the 'pin up gals' strutting around and people who show up in any that, "sort of looks 30s-40s."
Even small shows with re-enactors sometimes get people just randomly showing up in whatever suits them (pun intended) and often they'll hang around with the re-enactors, a way to think they're 'one of the guys' without having to help set up the display or adhere to any authenticity guidelines. I can only assume that Reading must have its fair share of this, I just hope the "Rocketeer" types are kept at a minimum...

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Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

So true Lee, The best thing about the displays I saw at Reading is the uniqueness and quality. For example this year there was a group representing the Coast Artillery command. They had a CP set up they were in spot on uniforms with 03s and Kelly helmets and the centerpiece was a working 60inch carbon arc searchlight. Great display. Some of the other ones that you just don't see every day were the Wake Island marine display the out of this world Seabees display with buldozers and all. The 25th infantry division Guadalcanal display even had a genuine 40mm Bofors sweeping the skies. A Bataan group and of course the Nationalist Chinese group as mentioned before were just a few more of the displays that groups pull together only for Reading every year. I could go on but the point is that the show is really a unique entity and I was really pleased with the displays and the re-enactment groups there this year.
Tom Bowers