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Thread: Tora, Tora, Tora

  1. #21
    Jim Hann's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Floatsflyer View Post
    So what would he say? He'd say, "I want to get together with any surviving Japanese pilots I dog fought with, open a bottle of whiskey and remember the best years of my lucky life."
    Quote Originally Posted by steveinindy View Post
    If I recall correctly, he actually did that at one point.
    I'd bet you are both correct.

    There is a new book out about Boyington called Black Sheep: The Life of Pappy Boyington. I'm hoping to pick up a copy eventually, don't have the free cash right now.


    Here is a quote from the review by Phil Scott (bold added by me):


    <snip> Boyington led the Black Sheep across the South Pacific. He was shot down on January 3, 1944. Fished out of the sea by the Japanese, Boyington spent the next 19 months as their sober guest, finding a nobility in resisting their extreme cruelty. After VJ Day, he arrived home and received the Medal of Honor awarded to him when he was MIA. He considered entering politics, but he started boozing again and drank himself through a host of jobs before being consumed by bronchitis, emphysema, and lung cancer. (He died in 1988.) Truthfully, the best time of Boyington’s life was war.<snip>

    I would tend to agree with Mr. Scott also.


    Review: http://www.airspacemag.com/history-o...digal-Son.html


    Book: http://www.amazon.com/Black-Sheep-Bo.../dp/1591149770
    Jim Hann
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  2. #22

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    "What would Pappy say"?
    Well, I met Pappy back in the 80's, didn't now him well at all, but I did see him at several shows where the famous Japanese author and pilot was also there, and I never saw any friction.

    I once had dinner with Pappy, just the two of us. Mostly, I ate and listened and Pappy drank.

    So I think what he would say is, "What time does the bar open"?

    Regardless of any afterwar drinking problems, Pappy was a genuine war ace fighter pilot, even if there is some debate about the exact number of victories or when they were.

  3. #23
    Lindberg's Avatar
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    To Floater:

    I too met Pappy. Many times. I also worked with a guy who flew for him in the Pacific. I do not agree that Pappy would open a bottle of whiskey and drink it with a jap pilot that he had been in a dog fight with. Pappy was really pissed about the jap pilot that was at Oshkosh peddling a book and claiming that he was the pilot that shot Boyington down. I talked with Pappy a lot about Japan, mainly because I lived there for nearly 4 years and during the occupation. He had little admiration of them after had spent tiime in a Jap prison. they did not know he was Boyington or they would have executed him as he had been a flying tiger pilot. He also quit drinking after the war, although he had fallen off the wagon a time or two.

    As for the Tora, Tora, Tora topic, I see that a few of you have wet your pants. Good. However, go back to my original post. I didn't say they should or would. I just wondered. I sense big changes in EAA. Diversity and multicultural influences. So be it. I got the best part, but that is just my opinion. Those from the Hales Corner's days and Rockford most likely have another point of view. It is what it is.

  4. #24
    Thomas Stute's Avatar
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    Guys, I do not understand all the discussion in this thread. WW2 endet 67 years ago and I guess nobody discussing in this thread had any vital role in WW2 air combat. I understand preserving, flying and displaying warbirds from WW2 era as a tribute to these who, in good faith for doing the right thing for their country, designed, build and flew these magnificant technical achievements not regarding if it were Americans, Japanese, British, Germans, Russians..and so on. So all these boys having flown in combat, risking their lives for their country deserve respect and so also the Jap pilots attacking Pearl Harbour are in a way honored by the display. Not the pilots were the criminals, but the politicians on all sides bear the responsibility for sending them into war, with or without formal declaration.
    So lets honor these brave young men who have risked their lives while flying these beautiful warbirds by enjoying the aerial displays of today. By the way, the pic at the left shows my Dad's pilots badge which he wore as agerman fighter pilot (Bf109, FW190, Me262) in WW2.

  5. #25
    steveinindy's Avatar
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    So lets honor these brave young men who have risked their lives while flying these beautiful warbirds by enjoying the aerial displays of today. By the way, the pic at the left shows my Dad's pilots badge which he wore as agerman fighter pilot (Bf109, FW190, Me262) in WW2.
    Your father has my respect. If by some chance, he is still alive please tell him that.
    Unfortunately in science what you believe is irrelevant.

    "I'm an old-fashioned Southern Gentleman. Which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-***** when I want to be."- Robert A. Heinlein.



  6. #26
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    (WARNING: HEAVY DOSES OF SARCASM AHEAD) Yep...remember the days when the women would stay home and bake cookies?* Yep, those were the days!The Tora act is a tradition in the CAF history books. It is meant to tell the story of the Pearl Harbor attack so that the younger generations don't forget. It has nothing to do with anything else. People just love to bash EAA and Oshkosh here. The Blacksheep have no interest in meeting Japanese. I was with 4 of them in Reading when the airshow coordinator offered to have a photo taken shaking hands with some zero pilots. They refused and used some 4 letter words.

  7. #27
    Lindberg's Avatar
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    President Franklin D. Roosevelt: Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy (def: a criminal and shameful outrageous act) —the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
    The United States was at peace with that nation, and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our secretary of state a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack...

    I see no honor here, and the attack was not honorable. I hold no ill will towards today's Japanese as they are no our allies. I understand that the young pilots who flew in the attack were so full of propaganda forced into them by the Japanese military, but there was no honor in the attack, nor should they be honored.

    I enjoy seeing the aircraft. (They are not real jap aircraft.) I can enjoy watching them perform. I do not honor them. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it is presented this year. Seems that history is being rewritten each year. We certainly don't want to hurt anyone's feelings now, do we?


  8. #28
    Sigh...

  9. #29

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    The Tora act is pretty spectacular to see. And for those of you looking to something to find fault with, the focus of the act is that the U S was unprepared for the attack and caught by surprise. It has nothing to do with honoring the Japs. This act did start the war for the U S and the other part of the attack is usually a CAF P-40 that comes in an shoots down some of the bombers or torpedo planes.

  10. #30
    Lindberg's Avatar
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    Yes. That was how it used to be. Perhaps it will still be presented as that. My point in all this was something apparently some have missed. Perhaps I should be more "politically correct" with a "kum bay yah" and "I want to buy the world a Coke" post. After all, that's what EAA is now. Still, I get this feeling when I am standing around all those B-25's, Corsair's, P-51's and our now dwindling present day military aircraft, that the only reason we are discussing this now is because of the American people who built, maintained and flew them.

    No matter what, there is always the beer tent and the Acee Ducee.

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