Enola Gay Damaged at Air & Space Museum Opening

Maule Driver wrote:

I agree. We wear out historical artifacts by both loving and hating them
too much. Museums patch them up and keep them out there. Like publicity
for media stars, maybe there's no such thing as a bad visitor to a museum.
As in "Mommy, why was that man so upset and why did he put a dent in the
airplane?" "Because a lot of people died in WWII, would you like to read
about it?"

Or maybe the true answer is "because he's a nutcase, just like the guy that tried
to shatter the Pieta".

George Patterson
Great discoveries are not announced with "Eureka!". What's usually said is
"Hummmmm... That's interesting...."

Corrie wrote:

Fewer civilians died at Hiroshima than in the fire-bombing of Tokyo or
Dresden, or in the Japanese depredations in China.

Fewer people, civilian or not, were killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined
than were killed with samurai swords by the Japanese during WW II.

George Patterson
Great discoveries are not announced with "Eureka!". What's usually said is
"Hummmmm... That's interesting...."

maybe there's no such thing as a bad visitor to a museum.
As in "Mommy, why was that man so upset and why did he put a dent in the
airplane?" "Because a lot of people died in WWII, would you like to read
about it?"

Hear hear! Everything is a teachable moment, and is best handled by explaining
that people differ, and some overreact by expressing themselves in
inappropriate ways. I often go look something up so I can explain it to my
kids, or someone else, and wind up greatly extending my own education on the
topic. And learning about the reasons people disagree with my point of view is
also very educational.

Bob Noel writes:

In article , Dylan Smith
wrote:

Thinking selfishly, it's a chunk of metal that probably saved my life.
Or allowed me to exist in the first place.

It probably saved my father's life as well (and several uncles).

And quite possibly my father's, as well. He had arranged to transfer
to a unit that wasn't being demobilized after Germany surrendered,
because he didn't feel it was right to get out while war was still
going on. He could easily have ended up in the Pacific then.

I have somewhat ambiguous feelings about being a citizen of the only
country to ever use nuclear weapons on human beings. But no
particularly ambiguous feelings about the war against Japan. I'm
against war, but if somebody throws a war, I prefer winning to losing.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: noguns-nomoney.com www.dd-b.net/carry/
Photos: dd-b.lighthunters.net Snapshots: www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
Dragaera/Steven Brust: dragaera.info/

Everything is a teachable moment, and is best handled by explaining
that people differ

Tell that to the Central Park Jogger!

all the best -- Dan Ford
email:

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

Aren't protests usually more effective if they're done *before* an
event takes place?

Didn't have any effect here last winter.

I think he wanted the protestor to take his argument to Harry Truman
in 1945.

(He was just barely old enough. As I recall the first news story, the
bottle thrower was 73.)


all the best -- Dan Ford
email:

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

The Enola Gay is history. Sputnik is history. Lindbergh's plane is history.
A Jap Zero is history, An Me-262 is history.

And the Japanese (we aren't supposed to say Jap any more) Zero is
indeed on display at NASM, downtown if not at Udvar-Hazy.

Indeed, enemy aircraft have always been strong draws at aviation
museums, and not just in this country.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email:

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

In article , Cub Driver
wrote:

Everything is a teachable moment, and is best handled by explaining
that people differ

Tell that to the Central Park Jogger!

the explanation just needs to take different forms...

--
Bob Noel

In article , StellaStar wrote:

maybe there's no such thing as a bad visitor to a museum.
As in "Mommy, why was that man so upset and why did he put a dent in the
airplane?" "Because a lot of people died in WWII, would you like to read
about it?"

Hear hear! Everything is a teachable moment, and is best handled by explaining
that people differ, and some overreact by expressing themselves in
inappropriate ways. I often go look something up so I can explain it to my
kids, or someone else, and wind up greatly extending my own education on the
topic. And learning about the reasons people disagree with my point of view is
also very educational.

I was wondering why I was bothering to read this thread. Now I know
why. I couldn't agree more, though I didn't know that's what I thought
till I heard it....

Mike Beede

"Corrie" wrote in message
m...
A *unique* hunk o tin it is, however. The 'tool' IS the history. ONE
airplane was able to do that amount of damage - unprecendented. The
B-29 itself was the most technologically advanced machine of its day.

I love aircraft too but would submit that the bomb IS the history. Of
course it was more than vaporized - quite a restoration project even for the
pros at the Smithsonian.