Term limits and an air show

Visitors lined up for a tour of “Doc,” a B-29 that sat in the desert for decades after being used for target practice, then being lovingly restored to flying condition by thousands of hours of volunteer labor. A pair of P-51Ds performed at the Hastings air show Saturday, as did a Pitts Special and many other aircraft.

Bruce Crosby/McCook Gazette

Before I get to the air show this past weekend I have a few observations on fellow columnist Mike O’Dell’s Friday column entitled “A few thoughts before we impose term limits”. I respect Mike’s thinking that there may be disadvantages to electing new persons to positions of political power rather than keeping long experienced people in those positions. Then he illustrated how other countries, some friendly and some not so friendly choose (?) their leaders. His list was well researched but he left one country out—ours. Yes President Biden has been long-serving, some 48 years in our U.S. Congress. Well experienced but in my opinion not doing a very good job as President.

Now our last President, Trump, had little or no experience in the political world but there is a vast difference in what he did for our country versus what we have seen from Joe Biden to date. Maybe experience is not the end all that Mike is trumpeting.

Mike spoke of the effect that the army of lobbyists make on our legislators both new and long experienced. Yes, I understand how a legislator would turn to a lobbyist for information because they are experts on the areas that they are paid to be well informed on. Therein lies the problem because I suspect that the lobbyists also supply more than information because money talks. Bribes! Now I think that we pay our legislators amply and after all, they vote and set their own wages. But I think that there should be stiff penalties for any person in elected office to take any remuneration for selling his vote to some lobbyist no matter how much he is offered.

Then there is the power of long-time civil servants and Congress could curtail the power of those long-time bureaucrats if they just would. President Trump made great progress in cutting down on the red tape that civil servants thrive on but I suspect that President Biden can’t see any problem with someone else, anybody else, subverting legislation in his reign as the weakest President that this country has ever seen. My opinion.

Now to happier thoughts. Each year Nebraska’s Department of Aeronautics, of which I am honored to be a Commissioner, selects a community to sponsor a state-wide Fly-In. The event is a chance for a town with an airport to show off their facilities and it is a chance for pilots to fly to and enjoy the company of others who have the love of flight in their blood. In my own experience pilots are a welcoming sort, proud to show off their airplanes, visit and learn from each other and eager to help each other out, especially our youth of today, in their pursuit of aviation.

This past weekend was the City of Hastings turn and they hosted the largest gathering that probably has ever happened in this state. Admission was a free-will donation asked but not required. A highlight of the event was the arrival of a wonderfully restored B-29 a genuine WWII airplane of the type that flew bombing missions throughout the war in the Pacific. It was a pair of B-29’s that dropped the atomic bombs on Japan that hastened the end of the war. This huge shiny bright airplane was restored by mostly volunteers in Wichita and proudly bears the name of “Doc” representing Disney’s character from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. That cartoon character is proudly displayed as nose art. Doc and another B-29, FiFi, are the only two B-29s flying today representing the 3,970 that were built during the war. Many of those B-29’s were assembled in Omaha, Nebraska and B-29 crews were trained at our McCook Army Air Base. For a small price, all interested could walk around and crawl through that magnificent airplane and for a hefty price a few got the chance to actually take a 20 minute or so flight in that piece of history.

A team brought a Navy example of a COD (Carrier Onboard Delivery) S2F twin-engine aircraft plus others arrived in a couple of P-51’s, Stearman’s, BT-13 and T-6 trainers were on display. All sorts of private airplanes were also present and the crowd was free to walk around and admire and visit with the pilots if you could catch them.

Food is always a draw and the local Kiwanis Club put on a great feed both Saturday morning and most of the day Sunday. At noon there was a gathering of food trucks serving their specialties. The big draw was an airshow with aerobatic pilots flying their near unbelievable routines. Then too car clubs were invited and wonderfully restored automobiles were a big draw. Have you ever seen a 1927 Whippet or quite a few Willis Knight autos? They were there representing their national car club.

Saturday evening a band played 1940s music for a hangar dance. Slow time dancing and several couples danced in period fancy clothing. Seminars, lots of activities for kids and even the weather cooperated with decent temperatures and a bit of rain during the night to settle the dust. Impressive was the large number of orange-shirted volunteers to park cars, direct traffic, keep the large crowd organized and attend to the details that make everything work smoothly. The whole community of Hastings is to be complimented for a job exceptionally well done. Nebraska Proud!

That is the way I saw it.

Dick Trail