Posted on 08/01/2015 4:42:23 AM PDT by taildragger
Over the last four decades, if you’ve seen a World War II aircraft actually in flight, chances are pretty good that the Collings Foundation in Stow, Massachusetts had something to do with it. Wednesday, the town Planning board voted 3-to-2 that the Foundation’s living history events, tours, exhibitions and veteran roundtable discussions are not educational, and thereby denied it a permit to expand. The Building Department also issued a cease and desist order against the Foundation on March 26, 2015 prohibiting take-offs and landings from the airstrip it has maintained and flown from for 37 years.
If so, that was one of the most interesting and engaging military museums I have ever been to. It is somewhat small, but full of fascinating things from WWII, things like Goering's effeminate powder blue suitcase he was captured with (with all the stuff still intact inside) and Hitler's personal phone book (with the phone numbers for various Gestapo branches, Gestapo Munich, Gestapo Paris, etc)
If you demonstrate you are careful and respectful, and bring a pair of white cotton gloves with you, you might be allowed, as we were, to handle various artifacts. They don't allow children under a certain age, and you used to have to write a letter saying why you wanted to visit. (This may all be changed now, but bottom line, very, very good museum!)
If that is the case, you are for the disintegration of the union.
Personally, I am not, for the reasons I stated.
I believe we should work within the guidelines we were originally given, which is built in resistance to liberalism if adhered to, and the advantages to a union that respects state rights far outweigh the advantages to a collection of independent small states.
Just my opinion.
Somebody didn’t pay somebody else off. Yes, we have come to that, especially in the more government heavy states. There is a very hazy line between official extortion i.e. the plethora of permits required for any project and building a garage free for the appropriate bureaucrat.
as a note, FRiend, JFK would be considered a Conservative by today’s standards. He was a Democrat, not a Progressive. Read a couple of his speech’s then you decide. That’s probably what got him killed.
He was pro-big government, pro-union and a welfare-stater--hardly a conservative.
I see nothing!!!
Unfortunately, this is too believable and expected from a good pro-socialist state like Mass, which has completely rejected its American historical legacy.
Diamond Lil is not a B24A. She was converted to appear as a B24A.
They should tell the residents: "OK, we will move the whole thing to Fort Devens.
Then we will convert the whole 100 acre property into Section 8 housing.
Happy now?"
5.56mm
I live in the proximity of two regional airports that are frequented by vintage warbirds. When I hear those radial engines in the distance, I rush out the door, hoping to catch a glimpse of them in flight. Magnificent!
These morons in Mass. need to brush up on what’s important to America’s future, as well as its past.
Sounds like somebody needs a new election.
You can argue about all you want, it still has the same airframe as a B24.
Yes, it is to be expected from Massacusetts.
Simply no. That’s like saying a 1963 Ford Falcon is the same as a 1966 Ford Mustang just because they are built on the same frame.
The LB30A was a Consolidated Model 30 pre-production prototype for evaluation (this is where the 30 comes from in LB30). The LB30As (including Diamond Lil) were made before the B24A even rolled off the production line. The LB30As were pulled from evaluation testing and sold to France. When France fell to the Germans before delivery could be made, the British took over the French order as part of the lend-lease deal since they were likewise short on aircraft. After delivery to the RAF, they found the LB30A to be totally inadequate for bombing because in fact they were never built to full service bomber specs (e.g., they didn’t even have self sealing fuel tanks because they were built as prototypes), so the LB30A (aka RAF Liberator 11) were all converted for transport and other non-combat duties (Churchill used one). Don’t you think that the British would have used them as bombers if they were in fact bombers? But they were useless as bombers because they were never made to B24A specs and the two were not comparable. The B24A is a different aircraft (a production Model 32, not a prototype Model 30) built to US combat bomber specs.
There is a lot of nonsense published online that the Diamond Lil is a B24A, but that information comes from ignorance and not speaking to the people who purchased and refurbished her. When you go to tour the Diamond Lil there will be her entire history available to read, and it will be clearly stated that she is not a B24A, but she was converted forward in time to outwardly look like the B24A. This was because there were no B24 airworthy airframes available at that time. So the decision was made to convert the airworthy LB30A forward to outwardly appear as a B24A. I was a member of the CAF for many years going back to when we were in Brownsville as the Confederate Air Force and I can assure you that the Diamond Lil has gone through many revisions since the time she was acquired by the CAF, with each revision bringing her closer in appearance to a B24A. But underneath it all, she is still a Model 30 prototype, not a Model 32 production model.
I’ve lived in MA my entire life and never even heard of this place.
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It takes a while to put museum exhibits together but I would think that just preserving the planes was a priceless contribution to the education of future generations. Note from warbirdsnews.com:
Editors Note: Please remember that the most effective letters of support must be polite first and foremost, while staying firmly in the Collings Foundation’s corner. Invective and vitriol will only hurt our common cause, rather than help it, despite how this news may make some of us feel.
They need to take one final flight!!!!
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