@phantomII: check out http://www.eaa.org

Although I would also tend to rate running out fuel as gross negligence, I find that whoever certify the ridiculously inaccurate and unstable fuel gauges which most GA aircraft are fitted with almost equally blameable. I have been told that only the empty indication has to be calibrated, every other indication doesn’t matter. I often wonder what newcomers to GA think – after they have recovered from the sight of the non-inertia reel seat belts – when they see us peering into the tanks and sometimes dunking things in it to determine the contents.

The issue about Germans being offended by the presence of an aircraft such as a Lancaster seems plausible but does not happen. I have also heard the story about the welcome that Sally B had in Germany and went to a pure warbird airshow at Oberpfaffenhofen (Dornier’s base since many years) near Munich some years ago where the French B-17, a B-25, Spitfires and Mustangs gave some very spirited displays at low level and nobody complained.

I am also of the opinion that the “market” could not support a second Lancaster and when I think of the amount of historic aircraft that is rotting away outside at many museums I think any public funds available for aircraft preservation are better spent on getting them under cover instead.

The ban certainly doesn’t include wartime photos and documents, as there sufficient books, exhibitions and television programs around which show this symbol today. If a historic document is concerned I think it can remain; however there are number of official (text-type) documents around where great effort was invested in the post-war years to delete the swastika.

I have only ever seen one historc aircraft in Germany which has been restored to include a swastika and that it is a Halberstadt in Berlin which was restored to the configuration it had when used a civil aircraft in the 30ies, but somebody else may prove me wrong on this one.

Plastic model kits do not include them, swastika decals may also not be sold, and models with them are generally not accepted at exhibitions.

Hence, the correct answer lies somewhere between the two possibilities you indicated. Whether the ban is enforced or not is certainly also related to the context in which you use it and how you go about using it