CDF wrote:
Agreed, as appropriate for your standing as a Moderator here you had the final say on the matter. BTW Happy Invasion Day to you.
CDF - James is NOT a moderator here. Folks made life real difficult for him while he was, and it's no longer the case. I started the thread here and I didn't think his comments were that far off. There ARE issues with many groups that reenactors might portray.
I think that there are a LOT of shades of reenactors. Some of those shades make me VERY uncomfortable. About four years ago I headed up a program with some reenactors. We had a local professional group involved that does a VERY good job. They include some Germans, but none of the guys that dress up as Germans treat it as anything more than playing the "bad guys" for demonstration purposes. They are not ideological. I DID have an SS group contact me to see if they could come. Guess what. They didn't get to. Would they have added to the event? Probably. I had enough issues to deal with as it was, and I'm not sorry for the choice I made. If the purpose is a choreographed re-telling of history, or a static demonstration, for educational purposes, I'm on board with it. If it's a way to live out a fantasy, I oppose it.
Below are some pictures from the event - "Mediterranean Assault" - that we did. Also, here's a link to the website we put up:
http://www.historicbattles.org/
For the first "show" I was flying lead in the L-2 - painted up as an L-4. It's not right, but honestly, from 500 feet, it does look close enough that most people wouldn't know the difference.
For those concerned about authenticity, for this reenactment we did use some non-WW2 radios for communication, but if you knew all that was going on behind the scenes to get the timing right, etc... you'd forgive us. As it was, the morning battle we nearly had a guy injured because a charge went off at the wrong time.
That's me in the picture here - with the Vietnam era radio, and a modern aviation transceiver. I flew the L-2 for the first reenactment, but because things didn't go as planned the first time, they insisted that I had to be on the ground to make sure no-one got hurt. And yes, my uniform was a hodge-podge. It had to be that way so I could take care of all of the comms.
The L-5 landing...
We had a professional pyro guy, and I think he did a good job of creating a semi-realistic atmosphere for the audience. It was incredible to be 20 feet away from those blasts.
Thanks again to our corporate sponsors for helping make it a "go" to honor the veterans.
Ryan
_________________
Aerial Photographer with
Red Wing Aerial Photography currently based at KRBD and tailwheel CFI.
Websites:
Texas Tailwheel Flight Training,
DoolittleRaid.com and
Lbirds.com.
The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. - Prov. 21:31
- Train, Practice, Trust.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
"Worth fightin for boys?"
