I don't know how much this bothers others, but being an aviation history nut, it really bugs me.
It's happened plenty of times and at the last two air shows I wanted to yell out, "No!! That's wrong!" I'm sure my wife would have been a bit embarrassed...so I didn't.
During the Denton air show a few weks ago a P-40n was going through it's routine. Here comes the announcer..
"Ladies and gentlemen, you'll notice that sharkface painted on the front of the airplane. It is, of course, the markings of the famous Flying Tigers. They were a group of civilian mercenary pilots who went to China to fight the Japanese!"
No!!!!!!!!!! I wanted to run up to the announcers stage. They were all U.S. military pilots. Chennault got permission from the War Department to go to air bases all over the U.S. to recruit pilots who were willing to give up their commisions and go to China. They weren't a bunch of mercenaries. They were , of course , offered money for every Japanese plane they shot down. And they weren't fighting the Japanese before the war began. First time they fired their guns in anger? December 21st, 1941. Two weeks AFTER Pearl Harbor! Geez!!!!
Then Sun n Fun. A Mustang is up this time. Here comes announcer...
"Most people don't know that the Mustang was not designed for the U.S. Air Corps. It was designed for the RAF. During the Battle of Britain," he goes on to say over the speaker system, "The British realized they were going to need a long range fighter. They came to the U.S. and asked North American to build one for them!"
What??!!!! The REAL story is that the British realized they needed a lot more fighters than their factories could build. They came to the U.S. to buy P-40's. Well, Curtiss had too many Air Corps orders, but they told the Purchasing commitee they'd be willing to give another company the rights to build P-40's for them. They went to North American. Dutch Kindlburger said , "Hell, we can design a better fighter for you than the P-40." And the rest, as they say, is history.
The RAF needed a long range fighter? Really? I think an aviation announcer should know a bit more about the history of the subject. Of course, I realize that except for me, no one else really cared.
But I can't help wincing a bit when I hear this stuff.