Warbird Information Exchange

It's short and sweet, and I really don't know what to say other than this rant. I haven't got any particular questions or comments on it, because I've found myself somewhat perplexed on what to do.

Here goes:

I was at the annual McConnell AFB open house this past weekend, and for various reasons, the warbird section did not open until 3 or so in the afternoon. Because of this, I spent a lot more time over by Doc or Sweet and Lovely, which were in separate locations. Upon arriving at the orange fence one more time hoping for a chance to get closer to the two B-25s, P-51, and other WWII airframes, I struck up a conversation with one of the visitors. I don't remember how it started, but it ended something like this:

Him: Yeah, I'm real disappointed they don't have a Fortress.
Me: There was one a few weeks ago.
Him: (seeming not to have heard) Yup, they had one last year, and it was gone when I got back to take a picture of it.

I wondered why he had not taken pictures when he had the chance, but didn't reply to it.

Him: (continuing) I just can't believe they don't have one this year.
Me: Perhaps they wanted to get different airplanes?
Him: They don't have a TBF either.
Me: That's a Navy plane, and this is an Air Force open house? (I shrugged helplessly)
Him: Yeah, but it's an Air. Show. (he seemed triumphant) They should have a Fortress.

He went on for a bit explaining about how he'd seen B-17s before and how it just wasn't an airshow, and then the strangest part of our conversation occurred.

Me: There was one here last week. You could have seen it.
Him: I ain't payin' no money to see no stinkin' Fortress.

This is the best part:

Him: Do you know what the best airshow is? I mean, these guys don't even have a Fortress!
Me: Flying Legends? (I knew his response before he said it.)
Him: Oshkosh.

We said a few other things and parted ways.

I thought it was strange that he wouldn't pay cash to see one B-17 (actually, to see the Liberty Belle you don't have to, but the point probably wouldn't ahve made any difference) but was willing to shell out the cash to drive all the way up to Oshkosh, then pay tickets for several days.

It bothers me to see people who just expect to see whatever; they seem to take it all for granted, and aren't really willing to donate (because they're not really PAYING, per se) the cash to keep the airplanes airworthy. I know for a fact at least three B-17s had prior commitments, and several others I'm sure did as well.

I don't know where I was going with this; I'm venting some frustration as I sit in my office--a horrible place to write.

Has anyone had similar experiences?

All the time. People tend to fixate on what's not at a show verses what is there. Sad...they don't get it. Several quotes come to mind when I hear these whiners:

1) Expect nothing and you'll never be disappointed.
2) When yer paying the freight to put on a show, you can decide what airplanes to have on the ramp.
3) if'n you don't like what ya see's...get involved to change it for next time.

Like most people, I have about as much time for whiners as I do for a hemorrhoid. It's easy to complain but takes a little more effort and thought to find a viable solution to the problem. Thats' the only kind of whining I'll listen to..one that comes with a viable, potential fix. Other than that....they can go lay by their dish....

John

CC CAF P-51C

Hmmm...interesting story but not all that uncommon. Unfortunately, dipsh*ts like this are a dime a dozen. If there had been a fortress at the show I'm sure he would've been b*tchin about something else. Some folks are just never satisfied.

John

Ya just can't please some people. I've heard people disappointed that their favorite plane wasn't at a particular show, although not to that degree. I got a chuckle a couple of weeks ago when visiting the Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa, and a guy seemed disappointed that they didn't have a B-17. Of course, they have a Lanc and a B-24..both of which are considerably more scarce. Not to mention a genuine Bf-109.

The guy you encountered probably doesn't know diddly about airplanes, anyway..aside from a few plastic models he slapped together as a kid and maybe a few Hysterical Channel shows. When I was a Thunder, a guy pointed at a Cessna O-2 and said to his buddy "Look..they've got a P-38 Mosquito!" I just smiled...

SN

You should've asked that clown if it was "C" or "D" model...lol!!

John

Chance are if that guy was not willing to pay $5.00 to see a B-17, then he is not going to pay the double digits to see Oshkosh.

_________________
Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

You actually don't have to pay at all to see Liberty Belle.

I figured there were people like this out there, but considering I have never attended an airshow outside of Wichita ("You pay the gas!" being the reason I hear most--but that money is going into a flight instructor's pocket, sorry) I really haven't met a lot of people.

(It's why I'm excited about GML; who wants to bet there are people who complain there aren't enough Spitfires or there are too many Mustangs? )

I hope that ticket prices are too much for someone that doesn't care about what they are seeing. I guess I sound mean, but I like shows like Oshkosh and others that are more for the real aviators and fans of aviation. Not people looking to kill time.

_________________
Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

Well, he had one thing right - Oshkosh is the best air show....but I AM biased since I work here

_________________
Volunteer Coordinator/Curator - Military Aviation Museum - Virginia Beach, VA
"America's Flying Museum"
http://www.militaryaviationmuseum.org

Nah, I'm glad the prices can stay low; what with school and flight training, I couldn't afford much else. It's been the reason I can't get to Oshkosh, like, ever: gas.

The price of gas does suck. And yes Oshkosh is the best.

_________________
Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

People like that are SO hard to take sometimes. It's pretty difficult to keep your cool around them.

Not surprisingly, when we have Chuckie at an air show, we quite often have people gripe about having to pay $5.00 to tour inside the plane. I dunno; maybe they think we somehow "owe" them a free tour because went to all the trouble to come to the air show. The truth is that they have no earthly idea how much it costs to operate a B-17 these days. So what does it cost? Well, the extended operating costs for a typical B-17 these days runs in the neighborhood of $3,500 to $4,000 per flight hour. Fuel burn at an easy cruise is about 200 gallons per hour. Oil consumption is on the order of 8 gallons per hour. It's amazing to watch peoples' eyes get bigger and bigger as you start quoting those kinds of costs. After that, they seem much more willing to fork over the five bucks (and sometimes even a bit more in the donation box outside the exit door!).

We do what we do because we want to preserve and promote the proud heritage that these vintage warplanes represent. We meet a lot of very nice people while we're flying that mission. We also meet some idiots along the way. We just take it all in stride. . .

Cheers!

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

Hey Dean...have you ever had a visitor use the old excuse..."I'm a taxpayer and I shouldn't have to pay to tour a government built aircraft that was paid for by the taxpayers"?

John

Bless 'em ALL
Bless 'em ALL
The long and the short and the tall...
They'll be nothing but complaining
It's either too hot or it's raining
so all's we can say is
Bless 'em ALL

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Support Your Local Warbirds! KBO!
The only reasons the airplanes matter is what the veterans did with them... and why.

Gosh, if only there was some sort of medium which people could use to seek out information about events, both locally and nationally. And perhaps, just perhaps, event organizers could use the VERY SAME medium to reach out to those who are looking for information, creating a "web" of information that reached people on a national level, heck even World Wide! Perhaps computers could aide in this endevour?

(your rant has triggered one of my own. Same principle; the uninformed.)

Of all the airshows we've booked this year, few if any have actually told us about their show's web site. Anything listed here http://yankeeairmuseum.org/aircraft/schedule.shtml was usually found by my partner or I as we went digging to see if anyplace we were headed to had useful information on the web. Just like we did last year and the year before. I'm still surprised at how many places don't have anything at all.

Random tidbit of useless information: Between July 1st and July 6th, over 30,000 people visited yankeeairmuseum.org. That six day period was busier than any other two months this year combined. Total cost to reach those people: 'bout 40 bucks. Normally it's $15, but we went well over our monthly bandwidth bill. That works out to $0.0013 per visitor.

For next season I'm putting together a media kit that will go out with all of our contracts consisting of a CD with images other sites can use, and instructions for how to link back to us, information on our aircraft and the museum, how to use the images on the CD, etc. Maybe then people might actually take some notice that this whole "web" thing might help them promote their shows.

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Phil K.
Yankee Air Museum
Systems Admin / Ramp Crew / Professional Photo Ruiner