A Unique Opportunity Missed
By Rich Davidson
“Its gonna be a big year at Oshkosh” That’s
the slogan for this year’s Airventure. Unfortunately, as the
old saying goes, “it’s not the size it’s how you
use it” and EAA has once again under-performed. Every month
of every year, we hear how Airventure is the biggest most
influential aviation event on the planet. But why is
“big” important if it is never used for anything other
than lip service. Amazingly, this year is no different and
Airventure hasn’t even happened. In all honesty though,
aviation itself is no better.
If you are a keen observer, you know that every potential action
in the universe has one possible moment in time that would make it
most effective or most powerful. In today’s language
that’s known as “timing”. Perfect timing is
rarely necessary for anything unless you are faced with a critical
task that needs everything in its favor. Interplanetary satellites
are a great example. You could fire them off any time of the day
but the window for launching one to a successful rendezvous with a
comet is finely defined. Ultimately, the harder the task the more
time critical the most effective campaigns are. This brings me to
the subject at hand; Naval Aviation.
I wonder, how many of you general aviation people have been
reading about the 100th Anniversary of Naval Aviation since last
year? My guess is that many have. Therefore, you were also likely
filled with the anticipation of what the Navy would do to
celebrate. Today, some of you may even be on boards of airshows
that will be hosting the Navy as a premier act. If so, you’ve
likely been promoting your celebration of the 100th anniversary of
naval aviation for six months minimum. The rest of you meanwhile
have been buying every magazine featuring a Navy plane in
“heritage” colors and passing around every link about
the anniversary that comes your way. There’s only one
problem. Outside of Naval Aviation, The Navy hasn’t been a
friend to aviation for some time, if ever. Saying that pains me. It
really does. But it’s true.
How can it be that the great American Navy, with such an amazing
history as a defender of freedom, could end up on the side of
anyone other that the citizens it is supposed to defend? Were it
Congress I wouldn’t be surprised, nor if it were the
President; but the Navy? I apologize, I am ahead of myself.
You see, my father served on the carrier Randolph in WWII. When
he passed away fifty-five years later, he still beamed of his time
in the Navy. It was one of the great achievements of his life. His
story of an Avenger capturing a wire still haunts me. Returning to
the carrier after a mission against Japanese ships, it staggered
onto the deck, jerked to a stop, and expelled a steady stream of
blood through its destroyed belly glass. Stories like these speak
volumes about the Navy’s history and what Naval Aviation has
meant to our country. It also speaks of the courage and tenacity of
the guys who flew these planes until they were so tired or damaged,
the Navy pushed them overboard as trash. Courage, sacrifice, and a
willingness to do what is right is how I was raised to see the
Navy. And for the most part, that is the Navy. Yet, it’s not
the Navy’s war record that concerns me.
Douglas TBD Devastator
Early this year, I began calling around and emailing various
aviation historians to see what they knew of the final outcome of
the world’s only known Douglas TBD Devastator, discovered off
the coast of Florida in the 1990s. When the plane was found, it was
a huge aviation story. At the time, none of these aircraft
were known to have survived, primarily due to their ironically
devastating losses in the Battle of Midway. The confirmed sighting
thus brought cheers of surprise and joy to aviation nuts around the
world.
The Douglas, found resting upright in relevantly good shape, was
not of particular interest to the salvage company which found it.
The treasure they were after was a Spanish Galleon. The rights to
it therefore were soon sold to someone who greatly valued historic
naval aircraft, Doug Champlin. One of aviation great collectors,
Mr. Champlin wasted no time pursuing the submerged bird and began
in earnest to retrieve it. Soon though, despite all of his efforts
to save the plane, it became clear the Navy didn’t want him
to have it. That did not stop him either.
Finally, after a long trail of paperwork and communications with
the Navy, Doug Champlin came to believe they had purposely misled
him about their intentions in the matter. That was the final straw
and soon a battle royale to save the TBD, almost befitting of the
battle in which most of them were lost, transpired. The official
record from this is one of aviation legend and Naval Aviation
disgrace.
Champlin, a guy with a deep desire to save threatened historic
aircraft, did everything in his power to save this plane. And when
he saw the situation going south, in order to save the plane, he
even offered to give the prize to the Naval Museum in exchange for
one of the many spare Wildcats they had in inventory. If the Navy
had accepted, he would have used his own money to rescue the
legend, recouped the expense through the acquisition of another
valuable airframe, and a Devastator would be sitting in the museum
today; basically a gift to the Navy with future generations as
primary benefactors. Instead, at every step the Navy treated Mr.
Champlin to malice and attitude.
Unwilling to back down, Champlin pursued and was able to get
John McCain onboard his efforts. The Senator immediately recognized
the lack of logic in the Navy’s policy toward abandonment of
aircraft and did all he could to help. Yet in the end, the Navy won
and the Devastator was left to rot. Yes, it was left to rot. But
not before the battle turned into scandal.
Senator McCain
The Naval Aviation Museum, it seems, was seen by its leaders as
a personal toy box. This meant that nothing was to get in the way
of any toys they wanted. When the battle for the Devastator began
to include which salvage company would be allowed to raise it, the
Navy found one it liked. So enamored were they with this company,
they “sold” to it $11,000,000 (million) worth of
C-130’s for $200,000. Again, things moved quickly except this
time the Navy found itself under investigation. Amazingly though,
the entire mess quickly disappeared into sealed depositions and
quietly went away.
The complete story of the battle to save this one airplane would
justify a book. Were it to exist, it would chronicle much that is
wrong with government and how Navy bureaucracy has led it astray of
its heritage. Clearly the Navy’s policy of claiming ownership
of items scratched from inventory decades ago would be shown to be
an outright insult to many. Among them would be the men who flew
them, the people who built them, the taxpayers that paid for them,
and modern citizens with a clear and present desire to save these
treasures. Unfortunately, this policy is a sad chapter in Naval
Aviation that goes on to this day.
This brings me back to beginning of the year when I began to
contact historians in an effort to learn the final outcome of the
Champlin Devastator story. Amazingly, all the hard-core,
“nobody knows more” types, had no idea what ever became
of it and most really didn’t seem to care. Are you starting
to see why I said aviation is no better? Here were many of
aviation’s finest, they didn’t care, and most seemed
resolved to defeat. That attitude kind of ticked me off and so I
set out to contact people in the Navy to see if they might have an
interest in changing their policy on salvaged aircraft. Being that
they suddenly had a newfound love of their Naval Aviation History,
I thought no time was better. Hey, there’s the timing.
My very first email was to the head of the Naval Aviation Museum
in Pensacola, Vice Admiral Hoewing. This is exactly what I asked,
“Vice Admiral Gerald Hoewing, can you tell me the ultimate
fate of the TBD Devastator off the coast of Florida?”
His only response was to have a subordinate answer my questions
because as his carbon copied email said, “I don’t know
who this is or what the agenda is, so I think you are better
equipped to respond. Besides, I don’t know the
answers.” Yep, that’s pretty much what I expected
but the Captain who corresponded with me was nice enough to me, in
so many words, the Navy intended to let the Miami Devastator rot as
they didn’t want to open up any more lawsuits. And besides
that, they had found others. “WHAT?” was my reaction.
Sensing my excitement, he even had the guts to ask if I would be
interested in contributing to the restoration. And although I
kindly refused, due to their salvage policy, I have to admit I felt
privileged to have been told this news at the time when very few
people knew about. But ultimately, my mind could not escape from
what I had heard. The Navy’s official attitude on the issue
was we got ours so we no longer care.
USS Randolph 1957 Photo
Moving on, I then asked the Captain about Navy aircraft in the
Great Lakes. To my astonishment, he told me that those would also
never be salvaged since the Zebra Muscles had invaded and sped up
the corrosion process. The only ones worth saving, according to
him, were now in deep water. Stunned, I sat there again as the Navy
admitted to me their efforts to keep others from rescuing these
planes had led to their demise. It also did not seem to bother them
at all. At least that’s the impression the Captain gave me.
Unable to take it any longer, I politely asked him if he could see
the lack of logic in all this, to which he responded, ‘most
of the people at the museum feel although they should not be
allowed to fly they should be allowed to be rescued’. That
sounds good but there’s a problem with that. It cost money to
raise these planes and a plane you can’t sell nor fly is
worthless. I was then very politely pointed up the chain of
command, almost sensing the Captain hoped I would succeed.
Back during Champlin’s efforts, one of the Navy’s
key players expressed something that pretty much sums up the
Navy’s attitude. “"The argument is made that the Navy
is ignoring the planes and they're rusting, when private salvers
and collectors could preserve them and show them off," acknowledges
Captain Robert Rasmussen, director of the National Museum of Naval
Aviation.”My counter to them is: 'You give me a sound plan to
pull them up and maybe I'll let you do it and then loan it to you.'
But that's not so attractive because they can't make any money out
of it." Now, isn’t that one of the most condescending
things you have ever heard? This guy is essentially
saying,”How dare they make money saving history that I want
in my toy box” while slathering his statement with strong
undertones of elitism and class warfare. But do you suppose Mr.
Rasmussen hated that his paycheck was paid for with tax revenue
from people like Mr. Champlin? I seriously doubt it. Certainly,
this statement makes it clear that the Navy had a major attitude
problem and I believe they still do.
In the minds of the Navy, sailors are up here, and the rest of
you are down there. Remember that “Maybe I’ll let you
do it and then loan it to you” statement. “You,”
could be the person whose parents participated in scrap drives so
the planes could be built and gas rations so the Navy would have
power, having already lost a relative in the battle for the
Pacific. But that never crosses their minds. Yet you know what?
Despite all their bureaucratic arrogance, I don’t care about
the people in the Navy that think this way. My problem is with
aviation and its so called leaders.
The 100th Anniversary of Naval Aviation was the perfect
opportunity for aviation to stand its grounds and say “no
more.” Yet it didn’t. Instead, everyone
associated with flying chose to suck from the government tit, beg
for the Navy to come to their events, and then promote them by any
and all means available (Note: The Navy does these events to
recruit new sailors and encourage tax expenditures). Across the
nation, airshow boards giggled like children upon receiving
confirmation the Blue Angles would attend their event. Advertising
dollars flowed abundantly to promote the Navy’s
“Heritage” paint schemes which were paid for with tax
dollars our country doesn’t have. And immediately thereafter,
warbird enthusiasts began forwarding Navy public relations photos
with the subject line “Can’t wait to see them in
person”. Yet none of those same people, none that I have met,
ever stopped to consider all the brave citizens who took on the
Navy to save a true piece of Navy Heritage and lost. Nobody in
aviation seems to care.
Why? I’ll tell you why.
Airshows make money off the Navy as they pay their own way and
they drive attendance numbers (read money). Therefore, they
couldn’t care less. Pilots who surely have read the stories
of the Navy’s malice toward civilian salvers conveniently
forget because they want to get a “cool” photo to put
on their smart phone home screen. Historians are so excited to have
something new to write about, they all have selective amnesia.
EAA’s sub-group Warbirds, perhaps the most blatant offender,
doesn’t care because many of its leaders will get to fly with
the modern Navy planes in airshows and get their names in print for
doing so. And the rest of our groups, EAA, AOPA, and all the
others, are running so scared they’ll even promote groups who
have no interest in General Aviation, other than taking advantage
of it, because they believe things are so bad they can’t
afford to have principles.
Folks, I’m here to tell you, this is wrong. Today, rarely
a moment is had where citizens aren’t complaining about the
arrogance and out of touch leaders in Washington. Yet, when it
comes to each citizen’s pet hobby or project, aviation in
this case, they somehow manage to put those feelings aside. And as
with our country, whatever path we may chose to pursue, we must do
it with principle if we are to succeed. Kissing abusive fanny in
exchange for photo ops is not acting with principle.
How many times have you said “If I were President of EAA,
I would do ____”? Well if I were the President of EAA, I
would have started last year encouraging airshows to not host naval
planes and in exchange offered to do everything possible to promote
those that agreed to it. I would then have used the power of
“the biggest airshow” to tell the Navy we thought that
the 100th Anniversary of Naval Aviation would be a great time for
the them to change their ridiculous salvage policy (perfect timing
for saving face) to allow private salvers to rescue and own these
historic birds. To sweeten the pot, I would also have suggested
that in order for people to rescue these machines, they would have
to agree to paint, somewhere on the plane, a gracious recognition
of the Navy along with the machines naval history record. The new
owners would also be required to sign an agreement giving the Navy
first rights of refusal on any sale. At that point, if the Navy
didn’t agree, I would have refused their attendance at
Oshkosh and set out to make sure every segment of aviation was
reminded, to the fullest extent possible, of the Navy’s
hypocrisy and irresponsibility toward that which we all as aviators
strive to preserve, Aviation Heritage. But hey, money trumps logic.
Therefore, you can expect to see the Navy in full force at
Oshkosh.
Rod, if you’re listening, I was able to find out that the
person you need to speak with is Admiral DeLoach at the Navy
History and Heritage Command (NHHC) in the Washington Navy Yard.
Maybe his response would be positive. Have you tried?
Here are two brief pieces about Champlin’s efforts.
Neither of these comes close to telling the full story:
1.
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/read.cgi?id=20050318&tid=1585467
2. http://www.nwrain.net/~newtsuit/recoveries/tbd-1/tbd004.htm
Link for Randolph information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Randolph_(CV-15)