I strongly suspect that the memo purportedly written by General Hoyt S. Vandenberg in 1944 featured in the Showcase section on p. 18 is a hoax.
The “signature” of General Vandenberg is completely unlike genuine signatures on a document and photo offered by auction houses on the internet.
My suspicions were aroused by the memo itself. Military competitions are concerned with military skills, not appearances. The idea of a “competiton” which would emphasize weathered aircraft seemed pretty bogus right from the start. If such a competition ever really existed, there should be plenty of records available in unit histories [I have not looked; please feel free to prove me wrong]. FineScale Modeler should have done some more research before publishing this memo.
Congratulations on falling for FSM’s April Fool’s prank! lol [8-]
Hey,
Dan Rather says that memo was authentic who am I I too argue?
[;)]
Don
I believe the appropriate term here is “GOTCHA” !!
April Fools!!
Jeff Herne
Associate Editor, FineScale Modeler
As PT once said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”
I thought it was an interesting April Fool’s Day prank. I figured anyone who read past the first few sentences would realize this. It was humorous, much like the laser guided air brush a few years back.
Naw, the classic was the review/instructions on how to build a kit. . .and the staged pictures showing all the WRONG ways to do things and the “bloody” fingers to prove it!!
Lot’s of mail on that one.
Still, you can’t top the old SAE articles. . .yet.
Clear plastic in a can was great.
Don
Laser guided airbrush? Backwards assembly instructions? SAE articles? Man I’ve been missing out! I wish I could see some of those old articles! That would be a kick seeing some of those old April Fool’s jokes!
You had to go on the internet and compare Vandenburg signatures to figure out that this thing was a joke? [%-)]
I was wondering about that too. In fact, I’m surprised that so many folks seemed to have taken the diroama and article seriously.
I guess a lot of people take their weathering very seriously!
Regards,
wow, crighton no hard feelings but this is kindof a splash of water in the face isnt it?? ah, dont worry, it had me goin for a time too. but still, u went on the net to see if it was a genuine sig? thts too funny man…
That’s too funny.