Nothing To Learn.

I find myself asking myself your last question whenever I read of another “dig”. Aside from reawakening emotions among the relatives is there really much more of real value to be learnt? That is not a rhetorical question.

Couldn’t agree more. All perfectly pointless. It’s not as though there are crimes to unravel. Time to leave the dead in peace.

Nice Surprises.

I don’t think there is any issue whatever. There is a lot of stuff to see, so many museums etc, we are rather spoilt in the UK.
This idea that there are all these disinterested parties hoarding and hiding old a/c (almost out of spite) probably applies to a tiny fraction of the a/c out there or more likely doesn’t exist. Added to that, these a/c are not going to be buried or cremated with the owner….! They all circulate in the end – they are far too valuable not to.
Rather, we should be happy that they are looked-after and properly stored for the future, which so many in the past have not been.
Security is a big issue and an additional cost to the storage and insurance. The fact that there are enthusiast who would like to see them is irrellevant. Better that they are safe.
In an ideal world, everybody could be trusted, but in any ‘special interests group’ there will always be those that spoil it for the rest.
I agree with the other poster who rather enjoyed the idea of these ‘mystery a/c’ materialising. Surprise presents are always so much more fun…:)

What a bummer. Very sad.

Try 3in1.

I’m sorry but why do you think you are entitled to comment on the length, or otherwise, of anybody else’s posts? Nobody is forcing you read what they have written but common courtesy dictates that you restrict your comments to the content of their arguments.

Not in the least. Repeated longwinded postings usually tend the ramble and make topics difficult and tiresome to follow, especially if they get off-topic. In this case, the thread veered off down the ‘Dresden’ & ‘Area-Bombing’ Scalextric slot….zzzzzzzz……

I agree…..it’s not as if this is a historic aviation forum where people who are interested in the subject can come to discuss it! :rolleyes:

Which statement at least has the attribute of brevity. :rolleyes:

Thanks.

Thanks for the info’ on those replicas.

Found some info’ and pics here now…

http://memoriesofthorpepark.co.uk/aircraft.html

I always thought that the S5 replica had a Lycoming or similar:confused:, but I just read that it had a Napier Lion….is this true..? If so, I wonder what happened to it after the fatal accident…?

Old Arguments.

Phew. A lot of verbiage and recycling old non arguments. Non of which really explains or excuses the way BC were treated.

There are often comments about the effectiveness of BC. The early period was rather innefective, but without it, and the technology that resulted from it, BC would never have become the mighty weapon it did….

If BC wasn’t effective, many other actions such as D-Day would almost certainly never have succeeded. BC constantly kept German resources pinned-down, and AA guns etc were only a small part of that. Men and resources repairing, rebuilding and moving production facilities could not be on the front, – or anywhere else for that matter…..

The argument about German war production is seductive, but totally misleading. To maintain output of, for example, fighter a/c, an exponentially greater effort was required as the war went on. That effort had to come from somewhere…. Remember what Harris said about ‘Panaceas’….. Harris was, of course, correct. All a waste of time when one has no pilots or fuel of course…..

Likwise the argument about the moral of the people not being broken. Sure, they carried-on. In the UK there was at least a light at the end of the tunnel; Not so in Germany. Efficiency, quantity and quality suffers when a system is under that much pressure. Propaganda aside, it’s clear that German moral ineviitably tailed-off later in the war, especially once they knew they had a war on three fronts…..

I suspect, that if the Dresden raid had not have taken place, the agitators would have cited the previous large raid etc. Such people would not like to be on the losing side, but often distance themseves from the means to achieve victory. Such is war. Had the Germans have been successful in 1940, they’d probably have been high on their lists to round-up, and would have recieved a swift reality-check.

Better.

Beurling episode was better than the Bader one, but not by much.

One point that I would make, that I know many others also find very irritating, is the constant reference to the Luftwaffe/Germans as ‘Nazis’ and ‘Fascists’ by the modern-day talking heads (I’m not refering to the veterans of course.). I think that it’s crude and ignorant. It’s fine to apply it freely with regard to the political animals, but only a minority of the units were so politically motivated.
It’s disrespectful of an adversary, now distant in time. This really has nothing to do with the well-known behaviour of the Nazis per se, and is hardly the magnanimity in victory that WSC suggested. ‘Germans’, ‘Luftwaffe’, ‘enemy’ or ‘Axis’ would be fine. Even Old Lags that had suffered directly at the hands of the real Nazis, were happy to make this distinction…….

Of course this ignorance is not unique to this series, but when repeated, seemingly every few sentences, it becomes terminally iritating. I have many friends in Germany, and I have to say that I whince when these programs lapse into this tabloid-speak. Pity the younger generations who find that no aspect of the conflict can be sensibly discussed without the constant and repeated use of such language.

I was glad that Beurling was singled out for attention, as his terrific feats tend to get sidelined by the BoB bandwagon. I have Beurlings excellent wartime book ‘Malta Spitfire’, actually published on ‘War Economy Standard’ paper in 1943. It ends with the crash of the Liberator at Gib’, whilst GFB was being repatriated with an injured leg.