Both the East Block and Nazis were on the losing side of a 50 year war against totalitarianism.
In most places in the world owners show the aircraft of those losing sides in the way they were, complete with symbols of the immoral ideologies they represented. Whether Germans believe any of those symbols are offensive or threatening to them within their own country, when displayed on historical artifacts, is their own business and they can control their population any way they see fit. That said, I agree with Le Sving that German opinion of what is done in Norway today with those artifacts (or in the US or UK) is completely unimportant.
Ultranomad wrote:
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
That is really great… especially when you are in the position of needing that kind of expertise.
I ran into a guy yesterday who is a retired (at age 47!) GM tool and die maker. He can make anything, including for example a completely authentic Great Lakes biplane from a very small pile of parts that included a weathered data plate. People like that are really valuable.
With your permission guys I would like to comment about some of the things that were said here.
1. The Nazis swastika is a modified symbol, the original is an upright standing on its base (flat area) rather than a turned to stand on the corner. Also, it was the insignia (is it the correct term?) of the Finnish Air-force prior to WWII. See https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-the-Indian-swastika-sign-and-the-Nazi-swastika-sign and http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29644591
2. I agree that the aircraft could be painted in a different paint scheme however, all of these aircraft are associated with a certain period and certain regime so I can understand why this scheme was chosen. I would have chosen differently.
3. What_Next.
A family friend was a Storch pilot, he crashed 4 days after the war started and spent long time in hospital due to head injury, in latter years he became a family friend and an High Court judge in Hessen. Another, after being recruited around 1943 finished a signalmen course, was sent to the SS and became a POW a short time latter.
My father is from Germany and is a survivor of the Holocaust, during WWI a great uncle served with von Richthofen and got the Iron Cross, he was sent to Dachau.
Every story that my father told me ended with “Not all German were bad” and then a story about how other German helped as much as the could.
What I am trying to say is that it is time to stop kicking yourself, you can’t keep on blaming yourself for things and actions that you are not responsible to.
Ben wrote:
Every story that my father told me ended with “Not all German were bad” and then a story about how other German helped as much as the could.
Absolutely. There is nothing, absolutely nothing anti German in my comments here. I could share with you war stories of members of my family, but it’s not the point. Right now, as we speak there are groups / parties on this continent who’s ideology is in line with nazi propaganda from 30’s. And swastika is an element of their let me use the IT term “user experience”. That’s why this specific symbol has a double meaning for me.
Silvaire wrote:
Both the East Block and Nazis were on the losing side of a 50 year war against totalitarianism.
It’s a gross oversimplification. Have a look at this if you get a chance to. It’s hard to believe but those things happened for real and is a part of our European heritage. like it or not.
LeSving wrote:
The symbol is ancient, and is used in almost all cultures on the globe. It typically symbols the sun in motion over the sky. Just because the Nazis hijacked the symbol for a fraction of a second in the history of mankind, doesn’t change this. Nevertheless, in Norway it is forbidden to use as a political symbol.
Yes, you can find the swastika elsewhere in different cultural environments where it will not cause concern. To paint it onto a plane however which is in camouflage paint and with German markings (which also is not quite something I think is unproblematic if it is flying under LN-reg) is however unsensitive to say the least. And to do it the wrong way (the original looked different) makes any claim of “historical value” simply go away. That plane never looked like this and it should not look like this now. Particularly if it is French built. In which case it should have been restored to it’s original specs, not used to glorify a very sordid period of time.
Certainly it will confine this lovely piece of restauration to Norway, which is a pitty. Without the Swastika it could do what it should after such an amount of work, tour around and be displayed all over Europe. Like this, it will not be let into a lot of countries. That is why most restored WWII planes are not displaying this symbol of infamy, historical value non withstanding. As it is, the only place it may have is in re-enactments of the WWII shows, but not on any other place.
German engineering in WWII was remarkable and it is more than ok to keep airplanes like this flying to celebrate the engineering side of things. But this can be done without the Nazi symbol as well. Switzerland has the last flying Junkers 52 3M’s with original BMW motors, former Swiss Air Force planes and remembered for that. The engineering feat of keeping those Junkers planes alive (they also restored a single engine Junkers to flying condition) is no small thing, particularly since there is no support of the original makers.
The Fieseler Storch as such has been a remarkable airplane and was, amongst other roles, used widely in a SAR capacity. A Swiss Storch was the first airplane to land on a high alpine glacier and to rescue people from a crash of an American Dakota, so a Swiss association also operates a bunch of them in original livery. I much prefer to see them in this kind of context.
LeSving wrote:
Caesar, Napoleon, Stalin, Mao etc etc. Hitler was no better or worse as far as I’m concerned. Simply yet another asshole with way too much influence
And you are serious too. So maybe that is why they let Nazi symbols fly in Norway, the tolerance towards this kind of regimes appears to be beyond belief. I’m sure Anders Breivik would approve too.
You are lucky I don’t moderate here, otherwise you’d be a part of history for this remark, I assure you.
OK let’s end this swastika discussion please. That sort of thing will always be interminable.
Peter wrote:
OK let’s end this swastika discussion please. That sort of thing will always be interminable.
Yes. This “issue” wasn’t even on my mind (it’s 2017 now as far as I’m concerned). For the record, this aircraft is a private restoration project in Norway. He (or they) have chosen this paint scheme for whatever reason. I think it is cool, and see nothing wrong with it. It’s perfectly legal, and perfectly OK, it’s part of history.
Another thing of historical importance. Norway was invaded, yes. But the (puppet) government consisted of Norwegians with the same inclination as the Nazis. They had a different symbol, and this symbol was used long before the war, and throughout the war, until the end. That symbol was what the Norwegians associated with the betrayers (the puppet government and their henschmen), which were much more brutal and evil, the worst scum ever, thus much more hated than the German soldiers. I bet the “anti symbol” people here don’t even have a clue of what symbol that was 
Any more swastika related posts and I will move a lot of stuff to the usual place which will be a pity because a lot of posts in this thread contain good relevant stuff, and I almost never edit posts.
I would much appreciate you delete/move non-topic stuff. My intention was purely to show this newly restored Storch with the original engine flying.
