Seems to me some guys need to chilll…
I played war games as a kid. German units from WW2 had swastikas. Does that make me a NAZI?
Silvaire wrote:
Without drawings you’re having to reverse engineer from existing parts and that’s relatively difficult.
Reverse engineering a crankcase might indeed be a bit too much, but a piston or a crankshaft will be a relatively straightforward job for a old-school “forward” engineer who understands the purpose of every curve and kink in the shape of the part. Also, Czechoslovakia was traditionally big on mechanical engineering, but the collapse of communism and subsequent economic troubles more or less coincided with the rapid phase of the technology replacement cycle in that industry, so when the economy began to recover, lots ot perfectly serviceable factory equipment turned out to be obsolete and was mothballed. Quite a few engineers and machinists approaching retirement age were also made obsolete, but some of them were enterprising enough and bought that equipment for scrap value, opening their own shops and making some money restoring historical vehicles. Today, it’s a whole subculture. Most people in it are over 60. Some of their old machining platforms have been outfitted with modern CNC modules. And whatever they cannot do on their own (e.g. forgings), they can often order at bigger factories because they still have friends there who are in the management by now.
WhiskeyPapa wrote:
I played war games as a kid. German units from WW2 had swastikas. Does that make me a NAZI?
Probably not, but different countries have different laws. In Germany it is forbidden to display nazi symbology, and for a very good reason. AFAIK this law was imposed by the nations who won WWII. Therefore even museum pieces and replica planes of those days must not show these symbols. We, the post-war generations, grew up in a nazi free environment (at least as much as is visible on the surface) and therefore take some offense when we see a swastika on a plane. Apart from the general bad taste it represents, laws apart.
Anyway, I never saw anything special in the Fieseler Storch (or the Ju52 BTW). A first semeseter enginieering student could have designed it. Other than high lift at low speed there is nothing that it is able to achieve. And it is just plain ugly.
WhiskeyPapa wrote:
I played war games as a kid. German units from WW2 had swastikas.
I for one couldn’t put in one sentence the word “games” next to “swastikas”. If you want to know why get yourself a trip to Auschwitz.
Participation in such events would not necessarily make you a nazi but it certainly limits ones sensitivity to horrors associated with war.
As a side note: There are countries in Europe, where displays of Nazi symbols seems to be a part of national heritage
Robin_253 wrote:
Participation in such events would not necessarily make you a nazi but it certainly limits ones sensitivity to horrors associated with war.
The real bad thing about the nazis was not so much the horrors of war (there is a long tradition to that and there have been worse war criminals than us Germans) but the horrible crimes commited under the cover of that war. Displaying a swastika in public therefore is an insult to all those millions of innocent victims and their relatives.
Le Sving is right.
An originals reconstruction should not exclude the symbols. This does not mean that you identify with the symbols, it just shows how it really looked.
Also in USA and UK it is normal to see svastikas on original aircraft from WWII, just look at Duxford Airshow. And I like the Storch and FW 190 as Spitfire and Mustang.
highflyer wrote:
An originals reconstruction should not exclude the symbols.
Sure! But they had a choice to repaint it as a nazi warplane or as a Storch flying for French Air Force or ….some paint scheme which would exclude the symbol.
The choice they made makes some people react in a very emotional way.
what_next wrote:
Displaying a swastika in public therefore is an insult to all those millions of innocent victims and their relatives.
spot on!
Robin_253 wrote:
But they had a choice to repaint it as a nazi warplane or as a Storch flying for French Air Force
French Airforce in Norway? 
When you put 9000 hours of work into something I guess you want to make it as close to the original as possible. This aircraft will help to tell the horrific stories of the Norwegian occupation and WWII. Very few nations are innocent in the context of history, even though the swastika is a symbol of one of the worst genocide.
However, I see no need to get upset, you do not have to paint your own aircraft or car in this livery. This was not done in an offensive manner, it is the way it looked. If you paint your white Cessna full with swastikas, that is a completely different thing.
Can you build an aircraft with a Nazi cross on it ?
Can you build an aircraft with a hammer and sickle on it? Yes you can, and people do, and fly them too. The only difference is that Stalin was on the winning side in 1945. And his victims were not so nearby – but they were not less numerous, neither were the murders less barbarous.
PS back to the topic: I adore the sound of that V8 direct drive! Big BRAVO for the people who made it all happen.
