J BoyleAslong as the builder of this lookalike is happy then I guess thats the main thing..
Using my usual “the glass is half full…” standard, lets look at it like this: It’s the best looking MB-5 around.
Rather than make critical comments (and I agree the plane isn’t that pretty, but in my opinion neither was the MB-5, it looks rather like a P-51H with a Griffon).
Here’s a guy working for years to recreate in some form an extinct English plane. And instead of knocking it, our comments (publicly at least)
should be a bit kinder.
After all he’s been spending his time and his money to build a plane the rest of us can look at. If it weren’t for guys like him, the historic aviation hobby would consist of going to static museums, looking through musty copies of Janes and building Airfix kits.
J BoyleI’d be interested in finding out about the collision of two fighters (believed to be P-51s) flying out of Gieger field, near Spokane Washington in the late 40s. The two planes were at low level, they touched wings and both go down in flames in a wooded ravine.
It was captured on film and is used frequently in documentaries to illustrate dangers and combat losses.
J BoyleThe film is directed by Martin Scorsese, it’s produced by Mann.
I just saw a trailer on TV and there are lots of scenes with the H-1 racer, the Hercules flying boat and F-11 prototype, obviously all computer generated (except for the cockpit mockup that flew …as was recently covered in FlyPast).
One of the neatest scens appears tobe when he buys TWA, there was a quick shot of a dozen TWA Connies on a ramp. That should get airliner fans excited.
Although I’m not a huge DiCaprio fan (I guess I’m the wrong gender), it should be interesting as most things done by Scorsese deserve a look.
J BoyleMy intial pick would be a F106 if they haven’t destroyed them all in the drone program, a F-8, a B-58, F105, KC-97, A-4 etc.,etc.
Maybe mothball a F-111 and F-14 as well for displaying in the future.
A few of the older generation helo’s would be nice as well.
I believe all the 106s are gone, perhaps one could be taken out of a museum and restored to flight. The 58’s and 105s were scapped except for a few museum pieces, spares (except for the engines) would be impossible to come by.
A C-97 is a possibility as is the F-8 and A-4 (and A-7) but they’re Navy.
Maybe the Aussies could give back a F-111G (a former FB-111) provided to them when the 111s were withdrawn.
I love the idea of old helicopters…restore a HH-3E “Jolly Green” as a tribute to the rescue crews in Vietnam. There are plenty of parts since the Navy still flies their SH/UH-3 Sea Kings. They’d have to buy a flying HH-43, there are some stillout there logging, but unless they pair someone to restore a H-19, it’s too late for that. And of course set aside a HH-53 and UH-1N when they are finally retired.
All in all, it’s not impossible…highly improbable, but not impossible. And withthe millions the USAF spend on recruiting and various heritage programs, one that wouldn’t be too expensive.
J BoyleA much maligned man fighting for a reasonable cause
I’m in favor of a Palestinian homeland (as is the US government)…but before we declare him a saint, didn’t he mastermind the hijacking and destruction of the three airliners (BOAC VC-10, TWA 707 and another which i cant recall) in the desert back in 1970?
That too was part of his legacy.
If were are airplane /airline fans (and I guess we are if we’re on this site) I can’t condone actions that have hurt commercial avaition…as terrorism has.
J Boyle[QUOTE=EN830]
The Falklands war was no more bloody than the US’s present attempts to quell the militants in Iraq, in total British Forces lost 250 servicemen and the Argentineans 649.
.Scotland is part of Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, it is has a power base in London, but now has a certain amount of autonomy. In fact today England is more under Scottish rule, Blair, Brown to name two Scots in power.
As for the native Australians, Australia has been a self governing Dominion since 1900 so it wasn’t British “rule”, that has been discriminatory against them, it was/is white Australians from many national back grounds who have discriminated against the native Australians for decades. And again Australia is a thriving country with a judicial and political system based on the English system.
There is not doubt at times Ireland suffered under British rule, large chunks of this suffering can also be laid squarely at the feet of the Irish themselves, however several thousand Irish citizens were willing to fight for the British during both World Wars, 190 VC having been awarded to Irishmen since it’s inception. Again where did their judicial and political systems come from?
Yes the British may have some dark spots in their Colonial past, but to the greater extent when they withdrew from their various colonies they left them in reasonably good shape. [QUOTE]
Some simple points…
Englasd has lost far less than 250 men in Irag.
If Scotland is so free, why is Sean Connery complaining about?:)
So dspite having the superior English legal system, the Aussies still amaged to mess things up in regard to the native people os Australia.
It’s the Irish fault? Hopefully no IRA members know where you live, I’m sure they’d disagree with you on that point. I didn’t say the colonies were left destitue, my point is that no Englihman has much of a right to call the US imperialistic considering the history of his own country. People who live in glass houses…
J BoyleYou don’t do jack in the bible belt and the rest of south except for owning guns and shooting up some deers Paul Bunyan style,
You knowlerdge of American folk tales is as impressive as your politics.
Paul Bunyan is a fictional giant lumberjack said to be living in the Minnesota northwoods.
He doesn’t shoot deer…you probably have him confusted with Daniel Boone an 18th century frontiersman…who fought against the British in the American revolution. Or maybe Davey Crockett, another frontiersman who died in 1836 at the Alamo…
If your going to try to make a point, get your stories straight.
J BoyleMost americans have not even heard of Magna Carta and those who have believe it was inspired by the writings of their omni-potent founding fathers……
And those who can’t past the fox news proponganda that US is not a colonial/imperial power….What does bases in Japan, Phillipines, Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Indian Ocean, Saudi Arabia, Germany, South Korea, Balkans, Guam, and etc. etc. mean?
Having bases is a country doesn’t mean imperalism….ask the English. American bases have been there since ’42.
There was a big war back then….maybe you’ve heard of it?
It was in all the papers.
J BoyleYes, it must have been dificult for the US trying to choose which of the two fascist ‘dictators’ it should side with… Still, for a change, it sided with the one which had (at least) some form of democratic rulership – must have made all the other despots on that continent quake in their jackboots and treat their downtroden masses just a little bit less cruelly.
I suppose you’d be happy for Japan (for example) to invade and claim the Hawaiian Islands as their own? No? Well theres a surprise… So how about if it was Argentina instead, complete with a reputation (known throughout the world, but at that time with very little officially spoken of) for the butal suppression of its own people and desperate to divert attention from its economic situation? You’d do the decent thing, ignore the appeals of the locals and leave them in peace, wouldn’t you? Not tell the world that no one invades American sovereign territory and gets away with it…
The difference between much of the European imperialism and American attempts is that whilst most European nations have shrunk away from it over the course of the twentieth century America has, since WWII, extended its tenticles of influence with a claim that it is protecting itself or democracy. Imperialism as such, for many nations, started a couple of hundred years ago and has died down from the middle of the last century: the apologies the natives would have been given (or deserved to be given) were mainly for things which happened well out of living memory – not something that can be said for the survivors of the events of the last fifty years of American foreign policy…
Still, I needn’t worry since you are going to put a bullet between my eyes…Flood
Flood as usual you missed my point and still managed to attempt say I’m some sort of mad killer. I’m waiting for an apology for your personal attack.
You really need to be more civil. Chill dude. 😎
You view any US foreign policy as evil/imperialist …unless it’s designed to drag the US into a European made mess….WWI, II, Kosovo, etc. Then it’s okay for the US to do anything overseas. Most of the policy stuff you seem to see as bad were made during the cold war, you remember that when the late, unlamented Soviet Union looked to be threatening Eurpoe. I suppose you’d be against the Berlin airlift because it violated East German airspace.
Your description of the English view of the Falklands war doesn’t sound too different that why the US acted in the Kuwait or Iran. To you, it’s okay to fight for the freedom of some people but not others? remember Kuwait was invaded. But the US went in there as part of a UN mandate, not just to prop up some remanats of a fading empire.
Your bias is clear, if the US does anything it’s imperialism…If the UK does something, it’s justified by God and Her Majesty.
J BoyleLost me there ! – cant see that anything that flew in 1946 and isnt in widespread service any more can be regarded as being “too new”!
A lot of people on this forum think anything later than 1945 is about as interestesting as a new Focus. 🙂
Most of my personal favorites are from the post ’45 period. I’m just saying what I percieve the general concensus to be.
Thankfully the Chimpmunk isn’t that rare so somebody putting in a modern engine in one isn’t too sacreligious…the way it would be with a rare historic warbird…Spitfire, Hurricane,etc.
J BoyleYou’re right, the US never invaded Iran, just organised the coup with the British SIS to overthroe the democratically elected prime minister Mossadeqh in 1953 when he starting making noises about the oil for the people of Iran rather than the British-Persian Petroluem company.
As for “hardly the stuff of imperialism”, the US empire started in the last century, does the conquest of teh Phillipines ring any bells?.
When it comes to imperialism, I’ll gladly cede that the U.S. takes a distant back seat to the centuries of advancement made by the U.K. (Your profile bravely doesn’t say where you’re from but I’ll take a guess).
I’ll even go out on a limb saying a lot of the U.S.’s misadventures…like Iran, was for the sake of good (i.e. trying to keep the USSR at bay) rather than blatant explotation such as we saw bythe European powers in Africa, Asia, Central and South America.
I’ve heard everyone in Ireland, Scotland, India, the aborigines in Australia, all loved being under British rule.
And don’t forget the Falklands, only the most recent (and bloody) example of a once great power trying to hold onto property. For those critical of Blair’s actions in Iraq, how many U.K. forces were killed, (not to mention thousands of Argentinians) were killed trying to hold onto god-forsaken pieces of rock where sheep outnumber people?
I’ll admit the US is far from perfect, but unless you’re Swedish or Swiss, few Europeans and no one in England, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands….has the right to be sanctimonious about U.S. actions overseas.
J BoyleMe!
If some nutter with a gun comes looking for me then I am Mark Macrame!Flood
I’ve read your posts, and it’s not a matter of “If”, but when!! 🙂
J BoyleI guess the guys who fought in Malaya,Aden,Falklands Islands and the Gulf War are considered to be legends by some . The vast majority of both ex and serving aircrew in the U.K armed forces have flown a Chipmunk at some stage.
Point well taken and I considered that when I wrote my reply.
But I don’t expect there will ever be a big budget film made about the daring RAF chaps that won the Battle of Aden. 🙂
Lets face it, with a few notable exceptions, the crews that served in the Cold War will be unsung heros. Don’t get me wrong, I love de havilland aircraft, but the Chipmunk is too new, and too common, to be REALLY historic.
J BoyleHaving learning about Woodrow Wilson for my GCSE’s at the moment, I think he was a useful president. His idea of making the U.S an isolationist country, was helpful against the problems in Europe. As soon as WW2 came along with Roosevelt at the helm, things changed and since then the U.S have been found in (military uses)
Iraq,
Kuwait,
Vietnam,
N. Korea,
Afghanistan,
Sierra Leone,
Cuba,
Iran…..the list does not end. George Bush has been responsible for 3 of these countries. Who knows if he is going to invade more!!!! Fair enough putting 9/11 into consideration,and fighting the war on terror……why does he not ask forces of that inparticular country to hunt whoever it may be down!!!!!
I think you’ve got you history wrong.
One of my university majors is in American history and I’ve never heard Wilson called isolationist. He got America into WWI, a stickly a European war between Imperialist powers, then tried to establish the League of Nations, an early UN-type body. That was shot down by an isolationist Republican US congress.
I wasn’t aware the US invaded Iran….or N. Korea for that matter, or Sierra Leone. In Korea (back in 1950) , the US went in at the request of the UN….same for Kuwait.
You forgot Kosovo…we went in at the request of NATO.
Hardly the stuff of Imperialism.
Good luck on the GCSEs… 🙂
J Boyle[QUOTE=kodak]
😀 Chippies are hardly rare and not particularly historic,
QUOTE]Not historic!? Chippy first flew in December 1946, thats like saying the DC6, Bell X1, Westland Wyvern etc are’nt “historic” -they all flew in 1946!
I meant historic in as much they didn’t train the boys who fought in “the big one.” No associated glory like the Tiger Moth or Stearman. Postwar trainers are nice, don’t get me wrong, but hardly the stuff of legends. Witness the Provost, Mentor, Bulldog…etc.
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