WIX Archives

a question of 'profit'?

Posted by Rob Mears on Mon Feb 02, 2004 02:13:39 PM

In reply top Re: Swamp Ghost posted by Mick on Mon Feb 02, 2004 02:14:31 AM

Whether it is money itself or the heartfelt reward of a job well done, relative 'profit' is the grease in the wheels that make the world go around. It's a shame some people have the big picture right in front of them, and still they choose to zero in on any singular aspect of a circumstance that they can panhandle as some righteous cause against "greed".

If not for some perceived idea of profit, there are few if any factors that would stand to generate enough justification for the recovery of relics like the Swamp Ghost. Anyone who thinks that Tallichet or anyone else will PROFIT from this venture after the years and money spent in negotiations, licensing, the cost of the various expeditions, recovery, relocation, and the complete restoration of such a machine are completely fooling themselves in my opinion. I figure Tallichet has enough money and enough warbird experience under his belt not to be sitting in his office drooling on how much cash he stands to make from this venture. Some people might say the same about Doug Champlin's efforts against the Navy toward the recovery of the Devastator off the Florida coast. I somehow doubt that he stood to make enough profit to justify the headache he went through for that one. The 'profit' in these cases is more akin to the knowledge that one has affected the successful salvage and preservation of an extremely rare or the only known surviving example of a very historical aircraft.

The same goes for Glacier Girl. Other than the warm feeling one gets from spending millions to recover and restore a hopelessly lost & forgotten aircraft, how much money do you think the owner has made back toward his investment? In retrospect, can anyone honestly declare that history and society would have been better served by leaving Glacier Girl and the faded memory of that flight buried under the ice cap?? If the recoverers in these circumstances wanted nothing more than to make money, I'd lay bet that they'd be the first to declare that there are far more lucrative investments to be made other than financing the recovery of rotted aircraft hulks from the far reaches of the globe.

The "personal profit of a few" quote referred to in the original post goes beyond the pale in regard to its supposedly serving the greater good of said "priceless relics". How ironic is an argument that would champion the desire to see such a plane remain stagnant in a remote jungle swamp where only a very small number of hard-core expeditionists will ever be able to enjoy the physical truth of her existence? This, versus its recovery and restoration where hundreds of thousands of air show goers could revel in the history of the plane, her crew, and her rarity. Even proper preservation in its current condition at a suitable museum would be a far more suitable fate for the plane than the privelege of a handful of explorers being able to document her slow return to the elements.

The irony in Mr. Taylan's argument is that "The Few" more so represents the occasional hard-core expeditionists who 'profit' by maintaining the deteriorating corpse of Swamp Ghost as some sort of obscure rotting touchstone deep in the wilds of New Guinea. The fact that they can maintain their point of view even as the plane is being rapidly scavenged of its 'priceless' components further stands to illuminate the motivation of "The Few".

How much honor can be paid to the memory of this aircraft and the circumstances that preserved it as a relic of war while it is hidden away, half submerged in some remote swamp? The world, and more precisely the American public (who paid for and rightly own the plane) might find a half dozen low quality photos of her on the web if they search hard... Nothing in comparison to having the same plane taxi up on the ramp at 20+ air shows a year with a dozen historians to tell her story and maintain the vitality of the truth surrounding her history.

As I see it, some particular circumstance of fate effectively grasped this particular plane and secured it (albeit temporarily) in such space and time to survive as testament for the countless other aircraft of its type that were either destroyed in combat, or returned home to meet their inglorious end as nothing more than post-war garbage.

I feel there is an innate desire in mankind to preserve the truth of past events that have agressively altered world society, and also to preserve the memories of honorable times in which men served up their lives en mass for a particular cause. This being the case for future's sake, it's up to the preservationists of the world to do what they can to maintain the living links to the past that keep important facts from being regarded as little more than fairy tales.

The Swamp Ghost is arguably one of the rarest surviving touchstones of WWII aviation history, and I personally think its urgent that people be able to look beyond the hand in front of their face and make themselves aware of what is most important for the long haul. What will be more important 200 years from now...that a small number of extreme expeditionists were able to trek into the wilderness and see the Swamp Ghost where she came to rest before being effectively dismantled bit by bit during the mid-21st Century by local scrap merchants, or that the journey of that same plane was seen through to its proper end by being relocated and preserved for the benefit of the masses, and for the future's more vivid understanding of the past?

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