The Misinformed Public

[Dan K]

Sorry if this is old, but some of you may be interested with the following link to the July Propwash--newsletter of the CAF Great Lakes Wing. In the first article, Wing Leader Bob Bos explains how the media has been used to slant the views of readers against the Wing and its objectives.

http://www.greatlakeswing.org/Propwash.pdf

[Steven M. Dennis]

Wow, what a bummer.

That and the damaged tailwheel strut and rudder at the last airshow makes for some tough "bumps in the road" for a real fine group of people.

Sounds like they won't let obstacles like that stop them though.

Thanks for the link Dan. See ya at Oshkosh!

Steve

[muddyboots]

Garrrr! How I hate morons!

*shakes fist all all nincompoops, bigots, and boneheads out there*

Why isn't the replacement of the aircraft part done by the employer of the tug driver on that JU52, by the way? Seems the wing deserves some compensation as badly as they have been treated...

[Steven M. Dennis]

Why isn't the replacement of the aircraft part done by the employer of the tug driver on that JU52, by the way? Seems the wing deserves some compensation as badly as they have been treated...

I agree Muddy. I thought the same thing. At my FBO, if one of my guys damaged an aircraft, it would certainly be repaired and/or paid for by us.

No questions.

Steve

[Tim Savage]

Interesting. I wonder if the airport received federal funds for improvement? If they have, there isn't a darn thing they can do about having the JU-52 based at 'their' airport.

[famvburg]

Federal funds or not, if it has ANY tax money in it & is a public airport, there's nothing that can be done against them.

Interesting. I wonder if the airport received federal funds for improvement? If they have, there isn't a darn thing they can do about having the JU-52 based at 'their' airport.

[TimAPNY]

Garrrr! How I hate morons!

*shakes fist all all nincompoops, bigots, and boneheads out there*

Why isn't the replacement of the aircraft part done by the employer of the tug driver on that JU52, by the way? Seems the wing deserves some compensation as badly as they have been treated...

If I had a say there would be no "next time" with that airshow. Did they not have insurance for such things (the airshow that is)? Talk about a screw job to the CAF Wing.

I love how people will write inflammatory remarks about things they know nothing about and not even have the “what ever” to sign it. The airport should toss them right out, no signee, no readee!

Tim

[Jack Cook]

Love em or hate en they walk the earth with the rest of us
My advice is remove the swastika. It's the symbol of evil and millions
of deaths. Plus the fact it tends to set people off for the reasons stated. Sying it's authentic really isn't a good arguement. I remember when Yellow Rose was forced into a bikini a few years ago to make peace with the airshow ladies and AF brass hats. Sometimes it's just easier to ride the wave instead of bucking it.
Flame suit on....................

[famvburg]

My view, which doesn't mean a lot, regarding swastkas, (like some other politcally incorrect things), is if it's used as an authentic marking, that's fine, deal with it, it's part of history. It's something else entirely if it's spray painted on a bridge or building or something intended to be a hurtful symbol. I don't display a Confederate (not Commemorative) flag because I'm a racist or whatever, I display one because it's part of my Southern past.

Love em or hate en they walk the earth with the rest of us
My advice is remove the swastika. It's the symbol of evil and millions
of deaths. Plus the fact it tends to set people off for the reasons stated. Sying it's authentic really isn't a good arguement. I remember when Yellow Rose was forced into a bikini a few years ago to make peace with the airshow ladies and AF brass hats. Sometimes it's just easier to ride the wave instead of bucking it.
Flame suit on....................

[P51Mstg]

I disagree Jack (maybe for the first time ) I'd watch that change the markings to make the public happy thing ............ Since the public is RARELY happy.

In the law, we call it a "slippery slope" Once we start down that path, where do we stop??

Now we have the COMMERATIVE Air Force (what crap).
Take the Nazi insignas off planes, and next ..

The name KRAUT KILLER has to come off a P-51

Someone wants Rising Sun kill markings taken off a HellCat

The P-40 "Sun Setter" has to get teh guy peeing on the Rising Sun taken off.

About ANYTHING offends SOMEONE. With relatives killed in WWII maybe the sight of ANY authentic paint scheme offends them.

It would ultimately result in a return to civilian paint schemes. (Hey the govt could say NO MILITARY PAINT for any reason in legislation)

Lets not go that far and someone change the CAF's name BACK to what it was.................


Mark H

[Randy Wilson]

P51Mstg - That would be the Commemorative Air Force and the name change was voted on by the members, not once but twice (once to change the name and the next year to select the new name) and frankly, the change was due to issues with getting leases and donations for an organization with "Confederate" as part of its name. The name change was agreed to by the majority of members in a vote. Are you a member and did you vote? I'm not trying to pick nits but your version just isn't true to what happened, I'm afraid.

As a unit officer and then Wing Leader of the Dallas/Ft. Worth Wing in the 1980s, I can tell you from personal experience that raising money and especially getting any sort of corporate donations or fundings had become increasingly difficult under the old name. My own neighbor at one point would make a corporate donation to our hangar fund or other fund raisers only if the check didn't have to be made out to the "Confederate Air Force" - this is an absolutely true story and one of only many of which I am aware. Just FYI.

Randy
CAF member since 1984
Current High Sky Wing Ops Officer

[Jack Cook]

Hi Mark,
I understand where you're coming from but the swastika is a special case IMHO. It represents the torture, murder and suffering of untold millions.
The symbol is something people are very passionate about and it's a very short step to go from seeing it displayed (in this case on the JU-52) and associating the people who are displaying it (in this case the CAF) with the evil it represents. The question you have to ask yourself is "is it worth waving the historically accurate" flag and being associated with that symbol. I for one do not ever want to be corrected or assumed by someone else to be connected to an evil that members of my family sacrificed their lives defeating.
Jack the realist

[phil65]

Remove the swastkas and 99% of the general public will not give the aircraft a second look or will think its a Ford Tri-Motor

Phil

[Eric Friedebach]

As I recall, the CAF Southern Lake Michigan Wing consulted with a well-respected rabbi in Chicago before deciding on a paint scheme for the aircraft.

[mustangdriver]

My view, which doesn't mean a lot, regarding swastkas, (like some other politcally incorrect things), is if it's used as an authentic marking, that's fine, deal with it, it's part of history. It's something else entirely if it's spray painted on a bridge or building or something intended to be a hurtful symbol. I don't display a Confederate (not Commemorative) flag because I'm a racist or whatever, I display one because it's part of my Southern past.

Love em or hate en they walk the earth with the rest of us
My advice is remove the swastika. It's the symbol of evil and millions
of deaths. Plus the fact it tends to set people off for the reasons stated. Sying it's authentic really isn't a good arguement. I remember when Yellow Rose was forced into a bikini a few years ago to make peace with the airshow ladies and AF brass hats. Sometimes it's just easier to ride the wave instead of bucking it.
Flame suit on....................

You are talking to a guy who has a confederate flag on the roof of my Charger. I have had people say that they were offended. My response is, "Tough". I have restored my Charger to how it looked like for the Dukes of hazzard, yes it was really owned by WB, and I am not about to change that. The show had nothing to do with racism. I think that symbols have more to do with how they are being displayed. If it is on a Cessna C-172, then maybe that is not right, but on a restored German WWII aircraft, yes.