Your thoughts and input are appreciated

[Taigh Ramey]

Hello,

I received the following e-mail that I thought I would share with you all. I assume that he came across a web page that I have on bomb sights. I sent him a reply which is also copied below.

If you have any thoughts that you might want to share with this person please e-mail him at:

hanno_ix@yahoo.com

Thanks for your help with this,
Taigh

From: Hannno Ix [mailto:hanno_ix@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 6:10 PM
To: taigh@twinbeech.com
Subject: bombsight

Sir:

I am sure you contributed greatly to the eventual victory.

But:

Have you ever thought of the children, old people, women and other innocent people that were killed with the help of these devices?

Have you ever felt the firestorm of Dresden caused by Britsh bombs was senseless and a crime of war because it was executed specifically to attack civilians? Of course it was not prosecuted - victors never are. Does that justify them?.

I am not defending the abysmal and satanic crimes Germans performed or even comparing those two issues. They cannot be compared.

However, I happen to believe that everyone will asked eventually to justify his/her actions - German and British WWII soldiers and politicians, too.

May I perhaps invite you to reflect on that part of the story as well - not just on the phantastic mechanics of bombing from the air..

The ultimate bravery is to fight the daimons in one's own heart - isn't it so?

Regards

H. Ix

Mr. Ix,

I am a student of history especially WWII Aviation and its technology. I am 44 years old and I was not even close to having a part in WWII. My father flew as a navigator in the US Army Air Forces hence my interest in this subject.

I think war is ugly and should be avoided at all cost. Sometimes war is unavoidable; say, when groups like Hitler and Germany or the Japanese Empire decide on world domination and take the violent steps to achieve it.

As a student of WWII technology I can’t help but notice that until precision bombing was employed many more people were needlessly killed as aircraft dropped their bombs in a “carpet bombing” fashion. The Norden bomb sight and many other advancements in WWII improved the ability to hit a specific target namely the enemy’s war production. It seems to me that these devices reduced the number of casualties caused by collateral damage. Of course not dropping bombs is preferable, but if you must do so wouldn’t you want to hit the specific target instead of the surrounding area and population?

With regards to your comments about Dresden-Germany indiscriminately attacked England’s population night after night with bombs and vengeance weapons designed to kill innocent civilians and cause terror.

How about directing your criticism toward the people who started the crimes against humanity instead of those honored and brave who brought that same scourge to a halt? How about honoring all of those who sacrificed their lives to stop the Nazis, Germans and Japanese who all wanted world domination?

I think we all agree that war should be abolished, but until our world has evolved enough for that to happen, do not attack those wonderful men and women of our greatest generation who fought and died to defend your right to spit on their memory.

Sincerely,

Taigh Ramey
Proprietor, Vintage Aircraft
7432 C.E.Dixon Street
Stockton, California 95206
(209) 982-0273
(209) 982-4832 Fax
www.twinbeech.com
KEEP 'EM FLYING...FOR HISTORY!

[Jack Cook]

Geez,
I don't know what you could possibly add to that??
Good job!!

[Paul Krumrei]

Great reply.....

[oscardeuce]

Good reply!

[TAdan]

Personally I would not have even given the person the time of day for me to reply to them. I would have written them off as "just another kooky person on the internet".

Your reply was excellent, and I imagine it will fly far above Mr. Ix's head.

[rwdfresno]

Taigh,

Sounds like you handled it pretty well. I have run into these types of people over the years in my involvement in events and such as you know, and they sometimes misunderstand what you and I and others are doing when we recognize WWII history. The somehow believe, or perhaps want to believe that we are celebrating war when in fact I think that we are doing just the opposite, perhaps demonstrating how horrific and dangerous war is and how brave the men are who were able to make it back with their sanity in hand.

We are celebrating the sacrifices by these men, the bravery, and the ingenuity, and resilience of our nation and others who helped propel us to victory.

It was good seeing you at Eagle Field, next time I am up your way will stop by again and say hello.

[Jack Cook]

I guessing that he didn't buy it

[Junkyard36]

Taigh -

Very eloquent reply.

[Taigh Ramey]

No reply yet and if anything does come back I will let you know.

I receive e-mails like this on occasion and they usually seem to come from abroad. I can't help but send a response to these people and I occasionally get into a mini debate with them. Some of them seem a bit shortsighted so it is always fun to try and open their eyes to another perspective. I doubt it does any good, as you say, but I can't let it go by without comment.

Thanks for the kind words,
Taigh

[Bill Greenwood]

Taigh, You have asked for a reply. In general I think you wrote a good response. If I was to edit it I would remove the quote about "spit on their memory" as that is too strong for what he wrote. To a large extent those of us who love the old planes feel that WW II was necesary and we focus on the personalities, strategies, machines etc. Maybe we overlook the victims too often. We have monuments to those who fought and died, maybe we need a monument to the civilians who died. We have fly bys and missing man formations for vets and heroes, maybe we need one or a moment of silence at an airshow for all the innocent peopel lost. One can say the Civil War was fought for a good cause, and WWII. But the first cost over a half million casualties and the second the loss of 55 million, most of them civilians. Modern war seems to fall harder on civilians than some in the past. So we have to keep in mind how costly even the "just" wars are, especially in regards civilians.

[jeffreyhale]

I have never posted a site for it, but I have recieved similar "angry" comments becuase of my love of old Luftwaffe aircraft. Especially when I was a child and used aviation as my favorite art subject. Somehow loving Messerschmidts and so on, and accurately portraying them with their Swastika's, made people have to go on and on about the evils of the holocaust and how ashamed I should be! I also have had to preface to some people, that I am in it for just a few aspects, like the technology, not the whole thing. I feel saddened that people like this are out there, and insist on trying to degrade us for our passions without taking the time to fully understand us. Excellent reply though, I can only hope that it might touch something inside this person, but at the same time I am not sure if it has a chance based on the narrow-mindedness already displayed by the individual.

[mustangdriver]

Very nice reply man.

[Dan Newcomb]

· Auschwitz-Birkenau
· Be³¿ec
· Che³mno
· Majdanek
· Sobibór
· Treblinka
Those poor poor Germans.
I have always wondered what the general non-NAZI population thought when they saw people carted away and shoved into freight cars never to return. They ALL were aware of Hitler’s anti Semitism. If any body thinks that they didn’t know about the camps you are living in a dream world.

· Auschwitz II: about 1,100,000 [5]
· Belzec: about 434,500[6]
· Chelmno: about 152,000[7]
· Majdanek: 78,000[8]
· Sobibór: about 167,000 [9]
· Treblinka: at least 700,000
· Maly Trostenets: at least 60,000
This gives a total of at least 5 million, possibly 5.5 million, of which over 80% were Jews. These camps thus accounted for about half the total number of Jews killed by the entire Nazi Holocaust, including almost the whole Jewish population of Poland.
Holocaust denial
Main article: Holocaust denial
Some groups and individuals deny that the Nazis killed anyone using extermination camps, or they question the manner or extent of the Holocaust. For example, Robert Faurisson claimed in 1979 that “Hitler’s ‘gas chambers’ never existed.” He contended that the notion of the gas chambers was “essentially of Zionist origin”.[22] Another famous denier is British historian David Irving, who was sentenced to prison in Austria for his Holocaust denials: Holocaust denial is a criminal offense in Austria.
Scholars and historians point out that Holocaust denial is contradicted by the testimonies of survivors and perpetrators, material evidence, and photographs, as well as by the Nazis’ own record-keeping. Efforts such as the Nizkor Project, the work of Deborah Lipstadt, Simon Wiesenthal and his Simon Wiesenthal Center, and more at Holocaust resources, all track and explain Holocaust denial. The work of credible historians such as Raul Hilberg (who published The Destruction of the European Jews), Lucy Davidowicz (The War Against the Jews), Ian Kershaw, and many others relegate Holocaust denial to a minority fringe. Antisemitic political motivation is often imputed to those who deny the Holocaust.
I don’t feel too sorry for the Germans.

THE CAMPS WERE THERE TO KILL CIVILIANS

[Randy Haskin]

Your answer was much better than the one I typically use:

"How do you like paying me to do it?"

[Dan Newcomb]

Your answer was much better than the one I typically use:

"How do you like paying me to do it?"

My god man what the hell time is it in Afganistan anyway?