Don't know if you folks already saw this elsewhere last week, but another member of the Enola Gay's crew has passed away.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/us/08jeppson.html
It is always sad to see another one of our brave Veterans pass away. Thanks for sharing this story as I had missed it. What makes me upset though is rubbish like this ironically on the same date as the NY Times article in regards to the Enola Gay...
Enola Gay Tour Just Another Hoax One Site Fell For
PacificFlyer | Apr 08, 2010 |
At least one aviation website fell for an April Fools hoax this month when someone issued a "news release" announcing that the B-29 Enola Gay was going on a flying tour of the U.S.
The website ran the hoax word-for-word, resulting in Pacific Flyer getting a rash of calls and e-mails about whether it was true or not. The release was full of quotes, listing national sponsors and even a website (which was also false) but anyone who has been in journalism for more than five minutes knows to confirm such outlandish stories before printing them.
"Can this be true?" one reader asked, sending us a copy of the release, which was printed word for word on the other aviation news website. "Why didn't you guys have this?" asked another reader.
"Why isn't this on your website?" challenged a third. The release said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt and NASM Director Gen. John R. Dailey, USMC (Ret.), made the surprise joint announcement at a news conference at the NASM's Udvar-Hazy Center.
"The tour will begin in June and run through August. After the tour, the plane will be disassembled into large pieces that will be shipped by a special train from the final tour stop back to the Udvar-Hazy Center ... The announcement is being made to enable the warbird community as a whole to modify the airshow schedule so that other WW II aircraft will be able to participate in the historic event."
The itinerary said the tour would start at Andrews Air Force Base, work its way across the midwest and end up at Yakima, Wash. The release also gave a website:
www.enolagaytour2010.aero.
A few readers referred us to the other website where the release was run in full (it came down a few days later when someone apparently advised them it was a hoax) and felt either we had missed a major story, or wanted to know if the other site was credible.
First, we checked the Enola Gay website, which did not exist. Then we contacted the National Air & Space Museum, who said, in effect, "definitely not, it's a hoax, probably an April Fools joke."
As Abe Lincoln once said, "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time." If he were alive today, he might want to make an exception to that rule.
Hang Tough,
Marc
