Warbird Information Exchange

On a holiday w the family I stayed up on deck to read Daniel Ford's great book on the Flying Tigers...so compelling I finished it in 2 evenings!

I was interested to see the Coca-Cola (5000 bottles of Coke), Ray-Ban (sunglasses) and Disney (Flying Tiger logo) all contributed something to the efforts of the AVG...

As I start to look at possible corporate sponsors for our upcoming Flying Tigers event --- http://www.atlantawarbirdweekend.com/

...I was curious what other firms offered support to the AVG...am looking to contact them about this event...

In this day and age I can't even fathom how this would work w a modern day AVG....

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Rauhbatz
Commemorative Air Force
CAF Ohio Wing/Airbase Georgia Member
PT-19/26, T-34 CAF Pilot


Favorite quote from Wind, Sand & Stars - A. St. Exupuery "friends are like trees...when they are gone we miss their shade"

There is a very good analogue of how this would work in the modern world going on right now. It's roundly condemned by most of the western world (including me BTW - but I recognize it)

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Lest Hero-worship raise it's head and cloud our vision, remember that World War II was fought and won by the same sort of twenty-something punks we wouldn't let our daughters date.

I didn't think the Ford book was looked upon too kindly around here.

Im sure there were so many angles in ways of looking at the AVG. I read Col Scott's book and it had a completely different approach. Then there was the Flying Tigers movie w John Wayne, other books, etc.

In any case it was something unique in history for sure.....

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Rauhbatz
Commemorative Air Force
CAF Ohio Wing/Airbase Georgia Member
PT-19/26, T-34 CAF Pilot


Favorite quote from Wind, Sand & Stars - A. St. Exupuery "friends are like trees...when they are gone we miss their shade"

Important point to note: Scott was not AVG.

Ford's book was not well received by surviving members of the AVG when it came out. He disagreed with the AVG's claims of the number of kills. Also, the AVG thought they were fighting Zeros but Ford believes the were Oscars since the Japanese indicated that they had no Zeros in that theatre at that time.

Bill

......and we know the Japanese always tell the truth.....

Rape of Nanking

Treatment of POWs

Unit 731

Cannibalism

Korean "comfort women"

"...appears to be some damage..." describing Hiroshima

etc., etc........

I'll take the word Dick Rossi and Tex Hill over Mr Ford any day!

Owen

I think it's been pretty well established that the AVG was fighting JAAF Ki-27s and to a lesser degree
Ki- 43s the latter which were misidentified as A6Ms. At the time any retractable gear Japanese
fighter was referred to as a Zero. That was also the case in Malaysia, the reason being that the Allies
had no knowledge of the Ki-43 and little intel on the A6M. In the Philippines, in the press at least, ALL
Japanese fighters were referred to as Zeros, as exemplified by news accounts of Wagner's victories, which in fact were all Ki-27s.

Mostly all of the AVG legend guardians have never even read Dan Ford's book
in either edition that doesn't stop them from being quite visceral in their attacks upon him.
While he is open to critisim and researchs his subject the FTA
does not..............
BTW Dan has a great webpage with tons of information. While on the FTA website it
usually is users are tracking everything on ebay, bad mouthing those who don't drink the cool-aid
and telling all those who ask about a relative that they wern't ''real Flying Tigers".
Just saying......................................

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Don't touch my junk!!

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Don't touch my junk!!

Rauhbatz, although I don't have an answer to your immediate question, perhaps you are seeking other sponsorship ideas?


It appears Mercury Air Group has sponsored several Flying Tiger gatherings and tributes in the past:

http://www.mercuryairgroup.com/Heritage.aspx


FedEx also has an ongoing connection with the AVG. They still own P-40E AK979 ever since they bought out the old Flying Tiger Line in the 1980's. Even though this warhawk is on loan to the Pacific Aviation Museum, I think FedEx is responsible for maintaining its airworthiness.

http://www.pacificaviationmuseum.org/aircraft/P40E

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p40regis ... ak979.html


Hope I didn't just waste your time with old ideas.

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

I don't see why there is major dispute if hes bringing historical records to light. They aren't saying they didn't bomb civilians in China, they are saying that they didn't have Zeros in those particular areas and they launched 10 ki-27s and 9 returned. If the AVG claimed they faced 10 Zeros and shot down 7 then maybe it was the same fog of war they faced everywhere. Or, as he said in the book the Japanese records were altered to avoid scrutiny. If a Japanese pilot said he shot down 9 Corsairs at Pearl Harbor on Dec 7th 1941, I don't think anyone would have a problem calling him out on it!

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Cessna 195

Hi Dan...thanks for the insights...no such thing as a bad idea!

The AVG group already works with FedEx so we are all good there...but the big FBO operators such as Mercury, Atlantic, etc would be good potentials...

Thanks again!

Did I mention that the first 1/48 scale model I built was the old Monogram P-40 Flying Tiger? That idyllic image on the box art has been part of me since then....

_________________
Rauhbatz
Commemorative Air Force
CAF Ohio Wing/Airbase Georgia Member
PT-19/26, T-34 CAF Pilot


Favorite quote from Wind, Sand & Stars - A. St. Exupuery "friends are like trees...when they are gone we miss their shade"

What I took away from the Dan Ford/Flying Tigers controversy was that some felt he took Japanese sources (considered by some to be the least reliable of any of the major WWII combatants) at face value while treating AVG sources with considerably more scrutiny and skepticism. Of course, we all know about the fog of war, and the resulting need for caution when dealing with and researching victory claims by all sides, but to some it appeared (rightly or wrongly) that AVG records were indeed being subjected to a higher standard than those of the IJAAF.

AMEN sir! Precisely !

Owen