The Warbird's Forum for March

(To see the video referenced here, go to the Warbird's Forum online)

I first spotted a still photo of this "factory" on a Chinese government website, which a commenter on the Warbird message board identified as probably taken in Kunming late in 1942 because it showed both an AVG Tomahawk and a USAAF P-40K. Then another member linked it to this YouTube video, which is even more fascinating. It not only shows the Tomahawk known as Yuannan Whore, but also a Curtiss C-46 Commando in CNAC warpaint. In best Second World War style, the Chinese characters on the post proclaim: "Working for Righteousness and Peace".

Some good reads this month: Go to the Warbird's Bookshelf for my thoughts on The Secret Knowledge by David Mamet, a wonderful rant against all things left of center. (Spoiler alert: there is no secret knowledge. "The Federal Government is merely the zoning board writ large.") And about American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird. (Or click on the titles to see the books on Amazon.) And, for small-plane enthusiasts, go to the Piper Cub Forum for the splendid double issue of Skyways devoted entirely to early models of the Taylor and Piper Cubs.

The March Atlantic has a great essay by by Graeam Wood: "What ISIS Really Wants." It should be required reading in the White House, whose primary occupant is so reluctant to name the religion espoused by Mr Rumaysah and his colleagues, who in little more than a year have conquered a swath of land larger than England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Read it and be frightened. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford