Vandalism, security measure, or something else?

Peter,

I did the tour January 2nd and someone on the bus asked the same questions.

The docent used a lot more words, but said basically the markings are destroyed so that they don't turn up on ebay.

As far as the guillotined parts, I think he said they have to lie there for 90 days for treaty compliance.

Now don't ask me why, if those parts are so collectable, the gubmint doesn't sell them!

Mike Z

-
"Peter Duniho" wrote in message ...
I was in Tucson over the holidays. At the AFB there (Davis-Monthan), they
keep a lot of aircraft in storage. At the south end of the base, several
recent arrivals were parked near the fence. For some reason, the "U.S. Air
Force" markings on the side had been torn up.

Does anyone have any idea why this was done? There were eight or ten
airplanes, all the same make and model, all with the same kind of
defacement.

You can find a picture of one of the airplanes he
http://www.nwlink.com/~peted/Davis-MonthanAirplanes.jpg

(Bonus points for anyone who can remind me what kind of airplane they
are...I want to say C-141, but I could be way off base).

Pete

"Mike Z." wrote in message
ink.net...
Peter,

I did the tour January 2nd and someone on the bus asked the same
questions.

The docent used a lot more words, but said basically the markings are
destroyed so that they don't turn up on ebay.

Weird. What's the stop someone from taking undamaged metal from the plane
and painting "U.S. Air Force" on it? Or do they just expect buyers to know
that the markings are damaged this way, and so know that anything like that
for sale must be a forgery? And what about the rest of the airplane? There
are any number of other parts collectors would be happy with. Why focus on
the markings?

Anyway, thanks for passing that along. It still doesn't make much sense to
me, but at least it explains the intent.

Pete

Peter Duniho wrote:

Does anyone have any idea why this was done? There were eight or ten
airplanes, all the same make and model, all with the same kind of
defacement.

This area happens to be the location of some rather sensitive equipment. Take a
good luck at the damage (I can't tell from the shot you posted, and it's only one
example). Were the holes punched through from the inside? If so, maybe someone
decided it was easier just to hit the demolition charges on the electronic gear
than to remove the stuff.

George Patterson
Love, n.: A form of temporary insanity afflicting the young. It is curable
either by marriage or by removal of the afflicted from the circumstances
under which he incurred the condition. It is sometimes fatal, but more
often to the physician than to the patient.

"Peter Duniho" wrote in message
...
"Kevin Brooks" wrote in message
...
[...] it is a non-starter in the case of the C-141.

I assume that, like Chris, you have no better theory to propose? You
prefer
to just pooh pooh suggestions put forth by others?

It some cases the "theory" is so far from reasonable as to require it.

If you must have a "better" guess try go with this one: the planes no
longer belong to the Air Force but to a scrapper and the markings
that proclaimed them as such had to be defaced and some bubba
determined the quickest & easiest way to do so was by stabbing
some bit of a big machine through the markings.

"Peter Duniho" wrote in message
...
"Jake McGuire" wrote in message
om...
Like what?

Sanding, stripping, beadblasting, etc.

Even if you could, you'd probably need to send out two men with a
cherry picker and painting equipment, and spend at least half an hour
a plane.

I didn't say "faster". I said "better". Even in the picture I provided,
the markings are still relatively visible. Other planes, the damage
missed
entire letters. And of course, there still begs the question of why the
markings would need to be removed. After all, it's just paint. It would
be
trivial for someone to reproduce (i.e. forge) the markings. What value do
the markings have that the AF feels they can remove simply by poking holes
in them?

The more that I think about it, the more I suspect it's removing the
markings in an unorthodox manner.

I can tell by looking at the planes that they are removing the markings in
some manner (perhaps it's orthodox there). The question is, why remove
the
markings at all, and why does punching holes in the airplane (which leaves
the markings essentially still there and readable) make more sense than
other methods (which could actually *remove* the markings, and which would
not leave the airframe damaged).

Large organizations, especially government ones, have rules to follow;
they follow those rules well past the point the reason for the rules apply
because "those are the rules."
I can easily imagine a rule that says before a plane can leave the grounds
under new ownership all markings declaring it US Air Force must be
obscured and this rule being enforced even for a trip across the street
to the chop shop.

Somehow, it seems like the damage is intentional, not just a byproduct of
the method used. But I just don't see how this particular method solves
any
problem worth solving.

Pete

On Tue, 03 Feb 2004 12:17:36 GMT, Bob Noel
wrote:

In article , Mark and Kim Smith
wrote:

After WWII, surplus planes were parked at Cal Aero Field for melting
down. Those to be sold off had markings painted over. Maybe something
along those lines?? Although, putting holes through the skin couldn't
make any buyer happy!

Parted out and melted down? The buyer wouldn't care.

Remember this is what they wanted to do to our old flying war birds.
I'd guess it basically means "This is marked for the scrap heap" and
has been rendered inoperable.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com


The wing spar (box?) problems wouldn't make any buyer happy either.