Funny how one of the most destructive eras of our recent history is also one of the most romantic.

>> ^rougy:
Funny how one of the most destructive eras of our recent history is also one of the most romantic.

That has actually been something that I've struggled with for quite some time. Growing up I romanticized that era like most others. I learned plane names and technical aspects, pilots names, airbases, dates, and statistics and all the while never really grasped what it was that I was really glorifying. That's not to say that finding an interest in the machines of war makes you a lover of war but there certainly is a grey area there. It's real easy, too easy in fact in this day and age to find some old footage, slap on some Glen Miller or Benny Goodman and then sit back and feel good about it all. Personally I try to learn more about the actual man inside the machine these days. What was their story and where are they now kinda thing. I still find a limitless interest and passion for the machine but it helps me keep things in perspective... for what it's worth.

I agree.

I was the same way as a kid. Every boy I ever met was. We all wanted to be pilots, and we all had our favorite planes. Mustang, Spitfire, Corsair, the P-58, etc.

My grandpa was training to be a tail-gunner in a bomber when the war ended, and he gave me some of his old training manuals, and I tell you, I was in heaven. I was holding the real deal in my grubby little mitts. Lost them along the way, but I'm sure you understand.

It's the whole gestalt of the era. The uniforms looked cooler. The Big Band music came and went. The technology was something we could still basically wrap our heads around. Abbot & Costello movies were big.

The reality of it all, especially for Europeans, must have been horrifying, but it's hard to look at that footage and not wish I was there.

I can totally relate, there's still a small... well not so small part of me that still feels a bit of sadness at air shows. I kick myself for not pursuing becoming a pilot more. I have been lucky enough to meet a few pilots, guys like Gabby Gabreski, Robert Morgan, and a few others, and every time it was like time stood still. A friend of mine said something really interesting to me once that really put things into perspective though. It's a bit crude but he said, even heros go poop too. One of the things that has helped my admiration stay in reality.
Another thing that was a hard thing to swallow was that the kind of fighter pilot that I wanted to become didn't exist anymore besides the fact that I had never really thought out what exactly it was that their "job" was.
That's a real bummer that you don't have your grandpa's manuals anymore, I can't imagine what it was like looking at those!

lol you old beggers this isnot the oldy plane club


I always thought german planes were far far better than allies planes. better speed guns ect. thay just dident produce enoughf of them. allso the german tech at the ery end would have blown the shit out of us but thay were to late with it owned

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