Heroic Tale of a Tail Gunner

[Seaspriter]

Great story Bob. Thank you.

I vote for "Swoose!" How about the rest of MilSurps Land?

IMHO, this should be a NO-BRAINER. Go for the glory, the passion, the courage, and the character -- all part of the SWOOSE story. As an amateur historian and writer, I know it's so often about the "story." Swoose has a story that our next generation will recall and thus help mold the character of our future nation. These B-17s and Lancs were not the glamour girls of air (like the fighter planes), but they were the battleships of courage and grit and commitment. We must treasure and preserve their stories as examples of what it means to be heroic and preserve freedom.

As a note: Some people take the act of "historic preservation" to such a purist's level that they strip the historical story out of the preservation. They become anal about bringing an artifact back to it's "original" form (hence the "Old Betsey" name") while blanching the aging and character and humanity out of the fabric of the piece. "Swoose" retains the story of the evolution of the plane. I have restored old houses, boats, furniture, cars, and guns. While debate is valuable, the issue is not just about "restoration" back to standard as it came out of the factory, but "preservation" of the evolution of the piece -- including its battle scars. It's why we don't want to take every ding, bruise, or modification out of our M-1s and Enfields -- they tell the story (this doesn't justify retaining Bubba blunders, however).

Keep the stories coming -- they are inspiring!

Robert

(BTW, if anyone is interested, here's a link to another fascinating story from two hundred years ago that demonstrates the tradition of courage: Dropbox - How the Nation was Saved 2nd Edition.pdf )

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