Quite simply, P51's first post was incorrect. Many people didn't like the the "I've got to post the pictures and put the news out first" tone of that post. He probably didn't mean it like that but that was how it was taken and I think most people can see why. Honest mistake. When I walked into the hangar on Saturday, I heard a person say "I was told they collapsed the gear, how did the get the B-29 fixed so soon?" Within the time it took me to get to the end of the hangar I had probably five different people ask me about everything from flat tires to could they have their money back because they came to watch the plane fly and it obviously wasn't going to happen. Couple this with about fifty or so text messages, emails and phone calls from people telling me they'd heard we were off in the trees, through the fence and on the highway, inverted in the drainage ditch, etc. etc. I know P51 as he's been a long time supporter of this airshow. I happened to see him as he walked past me in the hangar and I called out to him. I told him that his post was wrong, factually, and he needed to at least post the facts or delete the entire thing. I was rude, it got tense, he defended his actions. The previous night another member of the crew emailed him and told him that his post was wrong and he needed to change or delete it. Same thing I did, different style. This other crew member came up attempted to talk to Lee. He turned around and walked out of the hangar. It was hardly a gang style showdown or anything like that. My problem was his initial post.
p51 wrote:
I'm typing this from my phone, but the CAFs B29 had real problems landing on the Friday afternoon flight. They blew one tire in the nose for certain and I heard the crew later referring to tires, as in more than one. It was still sitting at the end of the runway when I left. I will post more info and some photos I took of the landing as soon as I can...
I told him that the "real problems landing" was overly dramatic. I also told him that the "blew one tire in the nose for certain" was not for certain as there was certainly no flat nose tire. I told him that one main tire blew. I am 100% sure that I told him that. He may have misunderstood me or forgotten that I said it but that is exactly what I told him. At the time the airplane was about 40 feet from us, on display for the public and definately had a blown tire. I told him how the number of people on the airplane were the exact number of people that knew what had happened and anybody else, CAF or not, basically had no idea what happened. I was rude about it and I admit it. However, as Lee says, very soon after that I made the effort to locate him, shake his hand and offer a sincere apology for my attitude. I talked to him about how speculation and such put the entire warbird business in a bad light, told him how before the crew got out of the airplane people were calling wanting to know how the plane went off the runway, through the fence, blew all tires, collapsed the landing gear and flattened a bus full of orpan pygmies. I told him how we had to wait for the field to close for the evening and the crowd to thin out before we went and pulled the airplane back to the ramp. I told him we needed to replace a blown tire and two flat spotted ones but nothing else was hurt, the plane never left the pavement etc. At least two other times over the course of the morning I went out of my way to chase Lee down and apologize again. I even let him crawl up and take a look in the Corsair as a peace offering. I didn't do any of this as damage control or anything like that. I did it because I was genuinely sorry for the way I talked to him. As far as I knew everything was good between us and life would go on.
As for the rest of his comments on here since then...well I have no comment. It was hardly as dramatic of an encounter as it sounds like it was. It was far from a gang interception in the alley and I have no knowledge of any of the older squadron members ever saying a word to him about it. The only people there that even know who he is is me and the other guy that was with me.
You always see comments from people about how speculation causes trouble when the people actually involved get wind of it, things get misunderstood and such. This was one of those situations. If you ever wonder what it is like to find out that the wild speculation is about you and your good friends, well I know what it is like now. I was on the plane.
I apologized to Lee, I meant it, I was under the impression he accepted it, and that is it.
The entire event from then to now was blown out of proportion. That is all I will be saying about this.
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