WIX Archives

Is this what you read, Rob?

Posted by Dan K on Mon Jan 19, 2004 11:46:01 AM

In reply top Combat veteran aircraft posted by Rob Rohr on Sun Jan 18, 2004 10:07:46 PM

From the TIGHAR website...

"A flying P-51 Mustang is wonderful and inspiring to behold --- but it is not preserved. It has been returned to service in order to demonstrate its power and grace rather than being set aside as a historic property to document exactly how a WWII Mustang was constructed and equipped. We need both the flying Mustang and the real wartime Mustang. Today there are literally hundreds of flying Mustangs but there survives not one --- not one --- preserved original example of a frontline P-51. Even the Smithsonian's Mustang (shown above) is a stateside trainer modified and repainted to represent a combat veteran. The problem runs throughout the historic aviation community and is rooted in widespread confusion about the meaning of basic terminology. Wholesale rebuilding (often erroneously termed "restoration") is not preservation. It is, in fact, the antithesis of preservation. "Original" does not mean "just like original." It means the actual material which was present at a particular moment in history."

Now I've never personally been a big fan of TIGHAR, but this quote seems to suggest something a little different (than what Rob paraphrased): that no combat veteran P-51 is currently displayed in its 100% original form.

So now, WIXers; is THIS statement accurate?

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