Possibly apocraphal story about Enola Gay display

actually burned the White
House, and that's why it's white - to hide the smoke stains on the marble.

Wouldn't the stains be hidden better if it were black, or perhaps
gray?

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com

On Fri, 28 May 2004 20:35:43 GMT, Duck Dog wrote:

It felt more like they were
displaying a B-29 than that particular B-29.

As a matter of fact, that's exactly the explanation that the NASM
director gave when people criticized him for not detailing the damage
that Little Boy did to Hiroshima.

In fairness to NASM, that's pretty much what they do with all their
aircraft. And it's probably more true at Udvar-Hazy than at the big
museum on the Mall. That's what I appreciated most about the new
annex: there's no Walt Disney "interpretation". If the kids aren't
happy looking at airplanes, they can go to the Imax.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com

wrote:

Amazing, if true, although it isn't the first time I've heard of the
Japanese style of blindered teaching of this period of their history.

They have a Shinto shrine in Tokyo dedicated to the perpetrator of the rape of
Nanking. It's roughly the equivalent of having a cathedral in Berlin dedicated to the
memory of Himler.

George Patterson
None of us is as dumb as all of us.

I agree that Germany has done an excellent job of what must be a very painful
exercise - ploughing through modern history to try to pull the lessons out of
what would be so much easier to simply try to forget!

Something has amazed me in traveling in Germany - Turn on your hotel TV at
night, and you're very likely to fall upon an episode of Hogan's Heros! The
series seems to be popular there. I'm not sure what that really tells us, but
it could be that they have come to terms with their own past to such an extent
that they can share the ridicule their former adversaries made of them.

Germany is an example to the rest of us in how they have dealt with an
extremely painful (and recent) past.

G Faris

In a previous article, (G Farris) said:
Something has amazed me in traveling in Germany - Turn on your hotel TV at
night, and you're very likely to fall upon an episode of Hogan's Heros! The

Did you know that the actors who played Klink, Shultz, and Lebeau all
suffered at the hands of the Nazis?

Klemper is a Jew who fled Germany in 1930s, then served in the US Army
1942-45. Banner and Clary were both in German concentration camps but
survived.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
If you refer to a woman as any form of waterborne African mammal then a quick
death is absolutely the *best* thing that could happen to you next.
-- Adi

In article ,
(Paul Tomblin) wrote:

In a previous article, "Bill Denton" said:
The problem is, that's the same sort of revisionism being taught to American
school children.

I'm still bewildered at how many USian adults don't know that the US
tried to invade Canada during the Revolutionary War, and lost, and tried
to invade Canada again during the the War of 1812 and lost, or that
during the Wo1812, British and Canadian troops actually burned the White
House, and that's why it's white - to hide the smoke stains on the marble.

Slight mistake here -- the White House is limestone, not marble.

In fairness to NASM, that's pretty much what they do with all their
aircraft. And it's probably more true at Udvar-Hazy than at the big
museum on the Mall. That's what I appreciated most about the new
annex: there's no Walt Disney "interpretation". If the kids aren't
happy looking at airplanes, they can go to the Imax.

Man, Udvar-Hazy is sounding better all the time.

The "Disney-treatment" of aircraft "artifacts" is what turned me off at the
big museum on the Mall, and made me long for the Air Force Museum in Dayton.
It almost seemed like the aircraft were an after-thought.

Just the planes, ma'am, just the planes -- that's all I want. And it
sounds like Udvar-Hazy delivers.

Next year, for sure!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Fri, 28 May 2004 14:13:57 -0500, "Bill Denton"
wrote:

The problem is, that's the same sort of revisionism being taught to American
school children.

But that means the future should be interesting: If our biased teaching and
reporting becomes revisionist history who knows how it will come out!


My father worked at North Island NAS Coronado.
He worked on Hellcats to Helicopters and patted
the first F-14 on the base the day he retired.
Baa Baa Black Sheep was on TV back then.
I loved it and Lowell Thomas news reels on PBS.
My Father took me to airshows, and I saw and knew
where my freedom came from at a young age.
I built models of the planes constantly.
My father told me all about Jimmy Dolittle and
the Dambusters, wing warping by the Wrights, etc.
He passed on not very many years after retiring.
He always told me I could learn to fly someday if
I wanted. Funny he only flew once in his life!


I dont remember being taught much about
these things in public school at all. I know I lean heavy
on aviation history but damn its so important and
the public school system then didnt teach much. I expect
today is no different. I wish every kid
could be taken out on a field trip and see, touch
and hear a B-25 or Corsair or any war bird and
KNOW that is part of their freedom right there
cast in aluminum. Instead god knows what
their teaching them instead. I dont have kids
but I have to live with everybody elses and how they
will vote someday. I sure hope they learn this stuff
somewhere.

They have a Shinto shrine in Tokyo dedicated to the perpetrator of the rape of
Nanking.

I've never heard about this, and I've paid a lot of attention to
Nanjing and Japanese memory. Most likely you're thinking of Yasukuni
Jinja http://www.warbirdforum.com/yasukuni.htm which is neither in
Tokyo nor dedicated to the Nanjing perps.

If there's such a shrine as you describe, I'd appreciate a pointer to
it.

Yasukuni Jinja does indeed enshrine convicted war criminals from WWII.
This is the English translation of the intepretation available at the
shrine:

"Moreover, there were those who gave up their lives after the end of
the Great East Asian War, taking upon themselves the responsibility
for the war. There were also 1,068 "Martyrs of Showa" who were cruelly
and unjustly tried as war criminals by a sham-like tribunal of the
Allied forces (United States, England, the Netherlands, China and
others). These martyrs are also the Kami of Yasukuni Jinja."




all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com

Paul Tomblin opined

In a previous article, "Bill Denton" said:
The problem is, that's the same sort of revisionism being taught to American
school children.

I'm still bewildered at how many USian adults don't know that the US
tried to invade Canada during the Revolutionary War, and lost, and tried
to invade Canada again during the the War of 1812 and lost, or that
during the Wo1812, British and Canadian troops actually burned the White
House, and that's why it's white - to hide the smoke stains on the marble.

Could you guys come back and finish the job? And get the Capital building this
time too.


-ash
Cthulhu for President!
Why vote for a lesser evil?