Aviation: The Hummel Bird, Morry's Gift from God

The original Hummel Bird, courtesy of  Terry Hallett

The Hummel Bird is what I like to call a growth design.  What that means is the designer started with an existing design and he improved it to suit his needs.  If a design changes enough it in fact becomes a completely new aircraft.  So it is with the Hummel Bird.  Morry Hummel started with a set of plans for a Windwagon and redesigned it with larger bulkheads for canopy and shoulder harnesses.  He also changed the design to a tail dragger. 

He would build the first plane in 1980.  "In July of 1982, the plane was featured in an article written by Jack Cox, of Sport Aviation.  Jack dubbed Morry's new creation the Hummel Bird." (See Works Cited)

The Hummel bird uses a 1/2 VW engine.  Yes dear reader you read that correctly.  They literally cut a V/W engine in two parts to have one reasonably powerful lightweight power-plant that has easy to find abundant spare parts.  Most 1/2 Volkswagen engines run in the 37 HP range and sip fuel.  In spite of the modest power needs the clean little Hummel zips right along at 100 mph and only stalls at 37 mph.

The sturdy metal construction can withstand 6 G's which is a lot more than most of want to endure for any length of time.

The Ultra Cruiser "God's Gift". Used with permission

For over 20 years Hummel Aviation has been selling plans of the legendary Hummel Bird and related aircraft.  Morry Hummel the man is a fascinating aviation personae.  In 1995 a bolt broke on the aileron control system of his Mini-Max and caused Morry to crash.  It was nearly fatal and he spent months in the hospital recuperating. Morry made a pact with God, if God let him live he would tell people about Jesus.  During this difficult time he designed and ultralight version of his Hummel Bird called the Ultra Cruiser, God's Gift.

Morry and Myra Hummel, Courtesy of Terry Hallett

God spared Morry and he completed the first Ultra Cruiser, God's Gift in 2000 and began selling plans.  Morry Hummel is a blessed man who has shared his blessings and his lesson about Jesus right alongside his wonderful Hummel Bird.

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Works Cited:

http://www.flyhummel.com/

http://www.flyhummel.com/forums2/index.php

http://www.hummelengines.com/

Aviation: The New Breed, Thatcher CX4

Thatcher CX4, ain't she sweet. courtesy of Peter Beck

The Thatcher CX4 is part of a new generation of aircraft that are practical, affordable, and easy to build. 

Roger Miller in his partially built CX4, good time to make airplane noises.  Courtesy Roger Miller

How easy?  Well most of the plane is 6061-T6 Aluminum cut with tin snips and bent to shape on a plywood table.  Pieces are assembled with Avex flush rivets which are pulled from one side so you don't even need another person to buck them. 

A key feature is that the CX4 can be built entirely from plans or many of the parts can be purchased prefabricated to save time.  Most of the 'kit' parts can be purchased a piece at a time which means no large outlay of money to get started.  Even in 'kit' form WITH engine it can be built for less than the cost of a KIA automobile  (see CX4works below).

VW 2180 from Hummel engines. The engine is made by Scott Casler and has 76 HP. Courtesy of Roger Miller

The CX4 is powered by the affordable Volkswagen engine that can be purchased for the plane from Great Plaines Aircraft Supply or Hummell engines.  Unlike many VW powered aircraft this one has very spritely performance and will cruise along happily at 125 mph.  The gentle 40 mph stall speed and sprung landing gear makes this aircraft suitable for landing on grass.  If you compare it to say a Volksplane, you will notice that it's a very clean fully enclosed shape that lends to this sporty performance. 

Open cockpits are nice on hot days.  Courtesy of Todd Henning

* Note: If you are partial to open cockpit flying the CX4 canopy can be removed.

Mr. David Thatcher Sr. reports that:

"The performance has been the real surprise for me. I never dreamed it would fly so great. It has a very gentle stall and is easy to land. I have only 300 total flight time as a private pilot yet I got in it and flew it without any trouble at all. It is stable and faster than I thought. I'm flying along with my hands folded in my lap, working off the 40 hours needed to complete the requirements. When the wing drops a little I just add a little opposite rudder and the wing comes right back up, never having to tough[sic] the stick. It has excellent cross wind handling too."

Courtesy of Roger Miller

The CX4 is a handsome plane that fits pilots of all sizes.  She would be equally suited for weekend flying or cross country travelling.  If cross country is your mission a 3 gallon auxiliary fuel tank is available.  One of the amenities that this plane sports is a heater and vent for all season flying.  Another nice feature is that the wings can be removed in about 20 minutes for transport.  This plane can be built as a tail dragger or tricycle.


This CX4 has an active builder/pilot/dreamer community who is always willing to lend hand.  Mr. Thatcher has surely designed a great aircraft and is sharing it at a very affordable price.  The CX4 has earned its rightful place as an aircraft for the next century.

On the horizon is the prototype 2-place Thatcher CX5.  More on that aircraft as it devolops.    

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Works Cited: 

http://www.thatchercx4.com/index.html

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CX4/

http://cx4works.com/

http://www.cx4community.com/plans_parts.htm

http://www.hummelengines.com/

http://www.greatplainsas.com/

Aviation: Netflix for Pilots Update 'The Legend of Pancho Barnes''

The Legend of Pancho Barnes

Recently Netflix has added a documentary called The Legend of Pancho Barnes.  It is available for instant viewing. 

For most of you Florence "Pancho" Barnes needs no introduction but for you young people out there I shall provide a brief history lesson. 

Most of us came to know of the aviatrix Pancho Barnes through the book and film 'The Right Stuff'.  She also appears in the book 'Yeager'.  I have also seen her mentioned in a number of books about Amelia Earhart for they knew one another.

Florence earned the nickname Pancho when she ran away from a marriage to a preacher and hopped a gun running boat to Mexico.  Legend has it that the preacher wouldn’t give her a divorce so she used to buzz the church during service every Sunday.  She was a record setting pilot in her own right and flew as a 'stuntman' in a number of famous movies such as Howard Hughes's 'Hells Angels'.  She was friends to a number of Hollywood movie stars and famous pilots of the day.

In the early days of test flight a place called Muroc Air Force Base (which would later be called Edwards) drew the best pilots around.  They lived in tents on the high desert and flew the fastest machines ever built.  The nearest town was hours away so Pancho saw an opportunity and built a fine ranch and watering hole that would in time come to be known as the 'Happy Bottom Riding Club'.  All of the big names in aviation at that time hung out at Pancho's.  Some of the names include: Jimmy Doolittle, Bob Hoover, Chuck Yeager, and many of the Mercury Seven astronauts.

In the 1980's a film was made about Pancho starring Valerie Bertinelli.  This was a very watered down version of reality.  This video is not available at this time.  As much as I enjoyed the ealier one it really didn't portray Pancho correctly.  The real life Pancho was not a particularly attractive woman and she had a mouth on her that would make sailors look for an exit. 

This new documentary gives the larger than life woman her due.  Starring the voice talents of Kathy Bates and Tom Skerritt the film is engrossing.  The Legend of Pancho Barnes also features interviews with many icons of aviation such as Chuck Yeager, Bob Hoover, and Buzz Aldrin.  

I think it is fair to say that this is must see TV for all pilots.

http://aviationbookandmoviereview.blogspot.com/

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Beekeeping: Systemic Pesticides and Colony Collapse Disorder

Permission Requested.

Cherished readers a recent study points to systemic pesticides as the largest contributing factor in Colony Collapse Disorder.  For those of you who don't know.  The honeybee (Apis mellifera) is currently in decline.  The toll on the honey producing, pollination, and beekeeping industry have been catastrophic.

What is the difference between a systemic pesticide and other types of insect poisons?  Systemic pesticides are seeds that are filled with pesticide so that as the plant grows it always has pesticides in it.  This kills most insects outright when they try to consume the plant.  For bees the situation is more mysterious.  Because bees only eat the pollen and the nectar of the plant it usually doesn’t kill them outright.  Instead it messes them up so bad they can't find their way back to the hive.  Within 24 hours thriving colonies go out to forage and never return often leaving a befuddled queen and a few nurse bees behind to defend the hive.  It is sure death.

With regular pesticides the farmer and the beekeeper could work together.  The farmer says next week I am going to spray my crops and the beekeeper can make sure the bees aren't there to get sprayed.  But with systemics there is never a good time for the bees to pollinate the crops.

What can you do?  I urge you to please write to your public officials and congressman.  Reference this study:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/p1027164r403288u/fulltext.html

Make companies like Bayer pull systemic pesticides from the market.  Another thing you can do is try to buy local organic produce and especially local honey.  The food is better!  Also get in contact with your local beekeeping association and ask what you can do to help.

If we lose the bees be prepared to lose a lot of other things you enjoy like fruit, vegetables, spices, and things like almonds.  A world without bees is a world where your food is bland and tasteless and costs ten times as much as it does today.  In fact I would posit that mankind needs the bees more than the bees need mankind.  The honeybee is one of God's gifts to mankind don't throw it away.

Jon

Update:  New Warré Hive Forum is open for business!

Aviation: My Childhood Airport Immortalized

Hi Folks,

 I just want to let you know that my childhood airport has made the Abandoned & Little-Known Airfield registry:

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/MO/Airfields_MO_NE.html#haerr

It pleases me that the place will be remembered here for pilots past, present, and future.  I would especially like to show my gratitude to Mr. Paul Freeman for taking the time to add Haerr Field to the list and doing such an excellent job of showing us the place. 

The Abandoned and Little-Known Airfield website has over one million readers and is an invaluable resource for pilots and aviation historians.  Unlike The Writings of Jon the Abandoned and Little-Known Airfield website is advertisement free.  This resource relies on contributions from readers like you.  I encourage you to donate to Paul's site so that we will have it always.

Donate to Abandoned & Little-Known Airports!

Aviation: Letters to the Editor

Kids love airplanes! Used with Permission

Kids and Aviation

By: Christian Von Delius

Jon-

In Aviation Memories: My Childhood Airport part 2, There was discussion of involving kids with aviation.

Recently, in our Yahoo plasma cutting forum, I wrote concerning a comment posted on how people would just make the things they needed, back in the day. They were discussing building go-karts out of junk when they were kids.

My response:

Sadly, let's see kids today do that.. :-( I volunteer at Flathead Youth Aviation where we teach kids how to build airplanes. Nearly every kid who has come in has never run ANY sort of powertools.

In fact, actual discussion: "It needs to be 3/16 of an inch..No, that is 3/4 of an inch"..They barely can grasp reading a tape measure. Most can now do 1/8ths" but it is still a challenge for some to do 1/16th's. And calipers and 1/1000ths are still under construction..

Used with Permission

We have about 20 kids on and off. They learn safety, and most can now buck rivets, use a chopsaw, a tape measure, pop riveter, drill press, air tools (cutoff wheel, air drill,..). But most importantly, they learn how to 'think', something they don't get off of TV.

And they are watching themselves build an actual airplane (a Thatcher CX4)(and work on others..) For every number of hours they participate, they are rewarded with an hour of flight instruction. About 4 of the kids are serious about becoming pilots. And some of the parents participate as well, and are learning things too (and we learn stuff from the kids and parents also :-) http://flatheadyouthaviation.org/ to check it out.

-Christian

 www.BrilliantDesignOnline.com

Solidworks Design & CNC Plasma Cutting

         -a division of-

www.AlpineWorldwide.com

       "We build ideas.."

Aviation Memories: My Childhood Airport part 2

Folks recently I spoke with Mr. Norman Haerr who is the man who built and owned my childhood airport and still owns the property today(my parents managed the airport in the 1980's).  He kindly shared some newspaper clippings he had folded up in his logbook.  They are from the Quincy Herald Whig Circa 1966.  I have transcribed the written text below:

Caption: Three of four planes housed in Haerr's hangar sit in front of gasoline pumps near end of runway. Alfred (Bus) Schaller, operator of Tic-Toc Motel, south of Taylor, sits in cockpit of plane in foreground. Airfield is now in use, although Norman Haerr says some final "touching-up" is still in progress.

Caption Reads:

Norman Haerr watches panorama ahead as he flies plane above Missouri bottomland west of Misissippi river and Quincy (upper right corner). Haerr and his father, Rudy Haerr, Marion county farmers have built airstrip and hangar on farm on north side of Route 24 between Taylor and West Quincy. Light plane operators can be in downtown Quincy in few minutes after landing at Haerr field.

Caption Reads: Haerr airport as it appears from air showing northwest-southeast runway as white path diagonally across field.  Rudy Haerr home is south of hangar; home at left is that of Noel Smith.  White path across lower photo is Route 24.  Hangar can accommodate eight small planes.

On Haerr farm east of Taylor

 Quincy has a new landing field near its front door.

Known as Haerr airport, it is located five miles west of Quincy on Route 24 and is designed to give owners of private planes quick access to the city.

Haerr airport, owned and operated by Norman Haerr and his father, Rudy, prominent Marion county farmers, is only a few minutes' ride from downtown Quincy.

Using no government funds or public subscription, the little airport was built by the Haerrs on their farm three quarters of a mile east of Taylor, MO.

It has a smooth, sod northwest - southwest runway, 3,100 feet long and 250 feet wide, and a hangar that will accommodate eight small planes.  Gasoline pumps have been installed near the runway.

* AFTER a little "touching up," the Haerrs say, final approval of the federal aviation agency will be given.  Officials of the Kansas City office of the FFA[sic] reviewed the air field to see there was no conflict with air routes and have given tentative approval to the project.

Construction of the hangar was started last November and completed this spring.  Relatives assist father and son in the work.

"I paid some of them for their help by giving them flying trips," Norman Haerr said Saturday, with a smile.

The building is of the usual type aluminum[sic] siding with sliding doors and concrete floor and conforms with hangar standards.

Four planes are now housed in it.  One is owned by the Haerrs.  Another is the property of Leeser and Stauffer Trucking company of West Quincy.  A third belongs to Alfred (Bus) Schaller, operator of the Tic-Toc motel, south of Taylor, and a fourth is jointly owned by a group of four or five fliers.

* Norman Haerr takes a realistic view of his pet project. "You never know just how something like this will go over," he said.  "If it is used extensively, the hangar is so constructed that additional wings can be added to either side to accommodate more planes, and we can blacktop the runway.  If it is not used, we can use the building to store machinery and grain, and plow up the landing strip and put it back into crops."

The new field will not be in competition with Quincy Flying Service at Baldwin field, Haerr explained, but will actually implement the facilities of the big airport east of town.

Norman Haerr is a sub dealer of Fred Schott, manager of Baldwin field, for Cessna airplanes, and refers all service work there.

Haerr said as soon as possible a lounge, with rest rooms and other services will be installed.  He said lights will be added to the field in the near future.

Wilbur Boehl of Palmyra and Alden Shipp of Quincy will be instructors.

"I have enough hours to be an instructor, but I haven't taken my test yet," Haerr explained.  He was taught to fly while attending the University of Missouri at Columbia.  He has a private pilot's license and about 45 hours' flying time.

* A Crop-Spraying plane from Kansas used the field several times recently, and the pilot told Haerr he was convinced a DC-3 could land and take off here."

The soil is a sandy loam that dries quickly.  Haerr said that even after a good rain of an inch or more, the field could be used within 10 hours.

Flying is becoming increasingly popular, Haerr said, and farmers have "taken to the air" in increasing numbers.  He has worked with Flying Farmers Clubs, and though not yet a member, he plans to join soon.

*Rudy Haerr is not a flier but he enjoys flying and likes to look over crops and other farming operations from "upstairs".

"Doc's Airpark," operated in West quincy[sic] area from 1947 untill 1955, was largely conducted as a flying school.  It's owner and operator was Dr. J. E. Haffner, Quincy dentist.  Since 1955 all aviation activities have been centered at Baldwin field.


Authors Note:  I would like to thank Norman Haerr for providing his article clipping and Shannon Haerr for digitizing it for me.  It is my honor to preserve this little slice of your family history here.  Article was orginaly published in the Quincy Herald Whig in 1966.

Aviation: Another One Bites the Dust

What remained of the old runway before Wal-Mart.  Used with Permission

My family and I decided to raise our collected cholesterol a bit at the local Sonic a while back.  While we were sitting there eating our Coneys and sipping Cherry Limeade I noticed something peculiar.  In the distance hidden behind some old buildings and junk a kudzu covered airport rotating light beacon still on its tower.  We only transferred to the area last summer so we are still new.  My wife had heard a rumor that an airport used to be here.

I believe the X at the end of the runway means this airport is already closed.  Used with Permission.

Apparently, years before Gloucester had a community airport.  Now in its place are soccer fields, Wal-Mart, and Home Depot.  All that remains are the beacon and the small building standing near it.  The rest is gone.  The photo below shows the beacon tower as it was then.

Gloucester Meller Field the tower on right still stands.  Used with Permission.

So what used to be a charming little airport with 15 planes or so (all made in the USA) is now a Super Wal Mart.  You go inside Wal Mart and most of the goods are imported from China.  The two box stores employ a large segment of the community so that is something I guess.  When you speak to the employees at Wal Mart they don't seem very happy though, like they see themselves somewhere else, somewhere better.  Where once you could land get a cup of coffee and hanger fly with a smiling airport manager now a row of unhappy locals work the registers running barcode covered products over lasers.  The air used to be filled with the sound of wind and Lycoming and Continental engines now is just the din of shopping and the routine beep of laser scanners.

In the works cited below I have placed the most precious of links.  A website cataloging the rise and fall of airports around the country.  This site tells the tale of Gloucester's lost airport and reports the demise of many others.

When you are driving to your local airport next time ask yourself, how much time does this one have left?  They are vanishing one by one, like some rare species on its way to extinction.  How long before the only things flying are commercial and private aviation is all but gone?  When will the last antique fly-in happen?  When will the last airport pancake breakfast be eaten?  Who will drop the last flour bomb in friendly competition?  Perhaps a day looms on the horizon when the only small planes left will all say the word 'express' on the side of them.

You have no doubt heard my lament before and perhaps you groaned at it.  What can we do?  What can we do to save private flying for future generations?  Well I suspect the answer lies in having fun.  You have to involve the community and especially the young people in your area.  When I was a kid if I helped wash and wax a plane often the payment for my hard work wasn't money but in fact was a ride in the plane when I was finished.  Host a fly in, and don’t just invite other pilots but open the gates to public and make sure they know it's happening.  Children love to sit in the cockpit of most any plane and pretend they are flying, just give them the opportunity to be kids like we were.

The city fathers of your town need to know just how valuable the airport is to the community, involve them.  Heck give them rides, encourage them to get a pilot's license. 

When I was ten years old a friend of mine got his hand caught in a meat grinder.  His parents rushed him to the doctor and he said that if Doug wasn’t rushed to Columbia Medical hospital halfway across the state in the next hour he would lose his hand.  His dad called my dad and my dad put Doug and his father in the back of his plane and flew to Columbia.  Because of this Doug still has his hand and all his fingers today.  If this happened now his hand would be lost because the airport just isn't there anymore.  This is only one story and I am sure there are others all across the nation.  They need to be told again and again to the people in power.

The world doesn’t need more Wal-Marts or Home Depot's.  Heck I bet soccer fields could be safely integrated into an airport with a little planning.  In fact I think it's a great idea to have a reason to bring kids to the airport on a regular basis.  Give them a reason to watch airplanes take off and land it will inspire them to fly just the way it inspired us when we were kids.  Make the airport a multi-use space, that is a great idea.  Don't let the FAA make it become some fenced in sacred place that only pilots are allowed to inhabit.  Flying truly is for everybody.

 LIKE!

Works Cited:

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/VA/Airfields_VA_Hampton.htm#mellar

Aviation: My Love Affair with the Volksplane

Fritz Wagoner's beautiful VP-1 in Army colors, Permission Requested.

The first homebuilt airplane I ever saw and flew was an Evans's VP-1 Volksplane.  On my list of airplanes for the next century the Volksplane could very nearly be King and I will tell you why.

First of all It's fun!  It's simple plywood construction is quick and easy.  It quite probably is the easiest wood aircraft to build.  This ease makes building the Volksplane a lot of fun, it's the kind of project you could share with your kids.  Her designer William Samuel Evan's designed her to be easy and affordable to build, those were his first priorities and for this we all owe him a debt of gratitude.  One example of the ease of construction for this plane is that the ribs are plywood and gang-cut which means you can cut out many ribs at once.  This saves a tremendous amount of time and is perfectly sound structurally. 

I can tell you from experience that the Volksplane is also fun to fly.  I can still feel the sensation of wind blowing over the hairs on my arm as I peered out of the windscreen.  I remember the simple joy of watching the fall colors of oaks and maples drift under me in the afternoon sunshine.  A steady bank revealed the glint of sun off the Fabius River as it carved It's way through the forest.  I can still remember the melodic, reassuring sound of the little Volkswagen engine towing us along. In the Volksplane I first knew the magical feeling of open cockpit,  pure, simple, joyful flight.

The Volkspane can be built open cockpit or closed.

Another mark in favor of the Volksplane is the fact that it fly's with an ordinary VW Type 1 Volkswagen beetle engine. These engines are abundant, affordable, and easy to maintain.  They sip fuel so weekend flying is well within the budget of any working person.

Mr. Evan's Designed the VP-1 in 1968 and in the years since it has been a sensation worldwide.  It is possibly the most abundant homebuilt plane in existence.  This means that the Volksplane has a massive builder-pilot community and community is the lifeblood of aviation. In later years folks had asked for a two place version of the Volksplane so one was drawn and built.  It's is known as the VP-2.  The VP-2 with two passengers would benefit from a larger engine than the VP-1 though it has been flown with the same engine.

A VP-2, Permission Requested.

Unfortunately the VP-1 I flew in years ago is no more.  I family friend decided to take it for a spin.  He was a large man in a small plane and he had never flown Volksplane before.  In order to allow for airport traffic he decided to take off from the halfway point on the runway.  This turned out to be unwise.  I was watching from the ground as he was flying in a nose high attitude trying to clear the power lines at the edge of the airport.  He cleared the wires but ended up stalling the Volksplane.  Her right wing stalled first and it dropped and he entered a right descending turn towards a highway cloverleaf.  I would guess he had only achieved about 500 feet of altitude before the stall.  The little plane collided with the ground and broke apart. 

You may be wondering why I would tell you about this crash if I want to impress you about the Volksplane.  The reason I am telling you about the crash is that our family friend made a number of pilot errors and he crashed that plane.  It was no fault of the Volksplane.  In fact her sturdy plywood construction saved my friends life, he walked away from that crash with nothing but a broken toe.  Plenty of pilots have died stalling on takeoff in certified aircraft and this wee construction of wood and cloth saved my friends life.  In spite of her size and humble Volkswagen engine the VP-1 is a rugged, forgiving, and very safe aircraft. 

I have always loved this plane and it is my pleasure to feature it here for you.

LIKE!

Works Cited:

 http://www.evansair.com/

http://www.stefanv.com/volksplane/

http://www.zianet.com/fwagoner/volkspla.htm

 Support:

 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/volksplane/

Aviation: Racism V.S. Historical Correctness V.S. Political Correctness in the Film 'The Dam Busters'.



Avro Lancaster's on bouncing bomb run.  Permission Requested.



I am always on the lookout for Netflix flying movies that I might recommend to my readers and last night I came across The Dam Busters.

I had read about the operation and seen some stunning aviation art of the raid.  I had never seen a movie about the raid till last night.  For those of you that don't know, here is a history lesson.

During WWII it was decided that if the allies could wipe out three German dams in the Ruhr Valley they would cripple the Nazi war machine.  It would flood all of the towns below the dam and it would take precious water away from the steel mills that were cranking out Nazi weaponry.  Sounds simple right?

The trouble was that these dams were hundreds of feet thick and made of masonry. Ordinary bombs dropped from way up high didn't have nearly enough explosive power to rupture the dam.  The Nazi's had prepared defenses for torpedo attacks and had heavy steel mesh nets in the water to protect the submerged portions of the dams.

Avro Lancaster in Flight, what a beauty!  Permission Requested.

This is where the story gets interesting.  Barnes Wallis, chief designer at the aircraft company Vickers, developed a large bomb that could be skipped like a stone across the water.  The bomb was to be dropped from an aircraft called the Avro Lancaster.  The plan was for the four engine bombers to come in low over the lakes (60 feet) at night and skip these bombs right into the dams where they would collide with the dam and then sink a bit then explode at just the right depth the blow apart the dam.  A brilliant feat of engineering!

So I was primed for a great movie!  And frankly for about half the film it was great, all the elements of a good war film.  An impenetrable target, a secret mission, a unique invention in the bouncing bomb, a remarkable designer to envision the attack, and brave men to carry it out.  As I watched the film I began to suspect that it inspired certain elements in George Lucas's beloved Star Wars, particularly the attack on the Death Star.  But I digress. 

So where is the racism?  In the film (as in actual historical reality) the Wing Commanders black labrador retriever is named the 'N' word.  They don't just say it once or even twice in the movie but over and over.  In fact the 'N' word is the code for a successful attack on a dam.  Nowadays the film makers would change the dogs name to avoid offending people.  In fact as I write these words a new Dam Busters film is being shot and they plan to call the dog 'Digger'.

Cherished readers I struggled with even writing this post, I really did.  So I think the thing to do is just pre-answer the inevitable questions.

First, did I enjoy the movie?  Yes I enjoyed the movie.

Second, do I approve of the 'N' word?  No I most emphatically do not, it's hurtful and offensive.

Third, do recommend the movie?  I honestly don't know.

Fourth, should historical correctness override political correctness in the new movie?  I don’t think so.  The first thing you have to remember is that movies take a great deal of creative license anyways.  They change all kinds of important historical details in films.  For example in the movie Braveheart the final battle was to have taken place on and around a bridge.  If they can change something of historical significance that is not offensive to anybody then it seems they can change this 'N' word situation to spare us further nonsensical offense.

The historians among you may scoff at my feelings on this matter.  But I think people in the past said and did a lot of dumb things just as we do now.  Proper history should be preserved in history books but blockbuster movies should appeal to the whole audience and they should not demean a certain sector of it.

So that's it for The Dam Busters.  It's good history and worth learning about.  I have included some websites that have all the facts in the Works Cited and one link that has information on the new film and the dogs name.


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Works Cited: 

http://www.dambusters.org.uk/Reasons.html

http://www.thedambusters.org.uk/

http://racismdaily.com/2011/06/10/dam-busters-remake-will-change-dogs-name-to-digger-critics-want-nigger-name-to-remain/