Warbird Information Exchange

RAPE OF NANKING- um yea so go somewhere else with that, read your history, or ask yourself this, would you rather have been taken prisoner by the japanese or the u.s. in WWII?

I didn't know that. Thanks August.

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Sure, Charles Lindbergh flew the plane... but Tom Rutledge built the engine!

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I'm curious at the use of the word 'hoarding' to describe a potential collection. When does a collection become a hoard and vice versa?
Does Walter Soplata have a hoard or a collection?

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Always looking for WW2 Half-Tracks and Parts.

MY history is as a member of the most benevolent advanced (pre-lieberals) society the earth has known, the one that has done more for the down-trodden across the world than any other ever.

Saying that "we" [America] were ever a society based on systematic barbarism just shows you for well, what you are. That's not much.

Rich

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Rich Kolasa
www.crystalgraphix.com

Sparky vs. Betsy, a battle Royale. Who will win? Are you trying to give the comedy channel a run for its money? If so good job because this is one darn funny thread.

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Always looking for WW2 Half-Tracks and Parts.

Did Mr. Soplata's saving aircraft that were unwanted and slated for scrapping deprive anyone else of an opportunity to own them? I'd say no, since they were UNWANTED.

Rich

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Rich Kolasa
www.crystalgraphix.com

Some of you people are beyond pathetic. Some idiot can spout off on the internet that "people stealing candy bars are just as bad as rapists because they're both taking things that don't belong to them" and a few geniuses will chime in and parrot such an idiotic statement.

No, people, DEGREE does matter in life. And, stupid statements should be called out as such.

I guess we conservatives are just as bad as those Muslims in Nigeria that just murdered 200+ with machetes the other day, cause the "Tea Parties" are violent mobs TOO, right?

Now, some of you morons can go back to whining about missing-man formations for good people that have passed who weren't in the military.

Rich

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Rich Kolasa
www.crystalgraphix.com

Wow! Hey don't knock community college, i went to 6 of them just to make sure I got a good education. They didn't cover Warbird hoarding however. I come here to learn.

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Always looking for WW2 Half-Tracks and Parts.

Hello,

I personally spoke with Mr. Harada on whether or not it would even be possible to "fly" his near-airworthy A6M2 over Japan. He just shook his head and said there would be too much red tape, restrictions on using original style components VS modern modifications to get it registered. Basically - no way.

It stinks because his Sakae 12 was running on the test stand and she (the A6M2) could fly!

He also has progressed well with another A6M5 Zero project (s/n 1493) and donated one additional static restored Zero to Yasukuni Shrine.

For more details, please see:

http://www.pacificwrecks.com/people/restore/harada.html

Bringing his Zero "DownUnder" or to the US to fly would be great, but my gut feeling is that he wouldn't do that.

I believe Harada-san wants to open a "Japanese Aviation" museum in Tokyo if everything works out as planned. I know "completing" his "Betty" bomber restoration is important to him as well.

He should be commended for 20 years+ of work to recovering & restoring these rare aircraft.

Regards,

Ron W.
www.beyondpearlharbor.com

Absolutely. Its a shame he puts so much detail and airworthiness effort into these aircraft, only to never see them take flight. I know it wouldn't happen but maybe some individual like Steve Hinton, etc. could help Harada-san if he ever felt the desire to bring one of his beauties this way.

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Keep Em' Flying,
Christopher Soltis
Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

CASC Blog Page: http://ctair-space.blogspot.com/
Warbird Wear: https://www.redbubble.com/people/warbirdwear/shop

Chicks Dig Warbirds.......right?

You need a blowjob bad.

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"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

^best post on WIX ever^

IBTL (In Before The Lock!)

PS Rich- You da man!

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Trust me, I know what I'm doing.

There was a worthwhile discussion possible here, but name calling isn't involved in that.

A 'hoard' implies a lack of public access. A collection may be either, while a museum is supposed to offer access as well as a tax break. We like what Walter Soplata did, so we like to avoid the negative connotations of 'hoarding'. But that's what it is.

There is no evidence of Japanese corporations 'hoarding' or buying for investment or status complete warbird aircraft. (Unlike, say, Van Gough's Sunflowers.) Thanks to the warbird directories, who has got what is too well known.

I did start a post the computer ate yesterday, and didn't feel like going through the effort again. However the key points were that Japan has a population, size and affluence that equates to the UK, but has a tiny warbird and aviation preservation movement in comparison to the UK's huge (globally, the second largest) warbird and W.W.II museum presence.

That's a fact, what's arguable is why.

One (of several) reasons is that the UK's experience of W.W.II was 'a good time' in history to look back upon and safer than today's more messy experience. Britain has a major economic history tourism industry too, part of which features W.W.II.

It seems that Japan has less of an idolatry relationship with old technology than the apparently-peaked western nations such as the US and UK do, who prefer to look back on the good old days of technical mastery - whether W.W.II or the Industrial Revolution.

But warbirds (ex-military flying aircraft, not flying for profit) aren't about technology at base, despite those claims. People get into warbirds because they are 'cool', and if you can wrap them in a flag too, all the better. If you can stay with the simple white-hat vs back-hat history agenda better still. Of course losers (and it has nothing to do with the relative moral or acceptability of the behaviour or actions of either side of combatants) don't have those luxuries.

For Japan there's a point beyond which having your nose rubbed in your ancestor's sh. t builds quite the aversion therapy. I suspect that the issue of Japanese 'face' and pride could be an aspect of that too. As we've seen here, they aren't alone in sensitivities over their history, and clearly it's normal for some to avoid in engaging with the facts. All the more understandable in a nation that lost the war.

All the ex-Axis powers have complex and conflicted relationships with their history, people and technology of W.W.II not to mention non-discussable topics such as their conduct and role in the war. They don't have the luxury of simplistic versions of their history that leave out the inconvenient bits - as being exhibited by some here. Both Germany and Italy have very different reactions to the fascist eras, and it's notable how much of Fascism has been erased in Italy from the streetscape and environment but remains (as it should) a hot topic in museums and history.

Regards,

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

In my experience the 'hoarding' term is most often that old green monster rearing its ugly head. Anyway it is totally subjective.

Since they don't teach kids in Japan that the U.S.A and Japan were at war in the big one how do they handle the Atom bomb topic?

Seems like they would have a hard time hiding that one if you know what I mean.

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Always looking for WW2 Half-Tracks and Parts.