Talk:Don Chafin/GA1

GA Review

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• Working on GA Review. Ling.Nut (talk) 09:45, 20 May 2009 (UTC)
• It's a bit misleading to state that Chafin attended Marshall College. He enrolled in the preparatory department of Marshall at the age of 15, attended for two years, took no college courses, and did not graduate. Strangely enough, another account has him teaching school at the Dingress School at the age of 15. Ling.Nut (talk) 13:58, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

  Well his obituary [1] says he was a "graduate" of Marshall. The application to put his house on the National Register of Historic places [2] (which was approved by the National Park Service) says he attended classes there. What sources lead you to believe he did not take college classes there?Cool3 (talk) 20:19, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

  Lee, Howard Burton (1969). Bloodletting in Appalachia: the story of West Virginia's four major mine wars and other thrilling incidents of its coal fields. West Virginia University. Page 88.

  Yes, now I remember that. There seems to be some debate here among the reliable sources as to what exactly he did at Marshall. George Swain in his The Incomparable Don Chafin (the only real biography ever to appear) says that Chafin attended the school (the book, however, is so slanted that it is nearly worthless) and the sources cited above support that claim, but Lee of course says otherwise. On balance, it is clear that Chafin spent time at Marshall. It seems to be less clear what exactly he did during that time, so I have changed the wording accordingly. Cool3 (talk) 15:40, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

• You really need to spend some time figuring out where those planes came from. I see several accounts that label them military planes that Chafin somehow borrowed. Apparently a military plane crashed as well, killing four on board. Ling.Nut (talk) 15:03, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

  They were not military planes, although I see the source of the confusion. Billy Mitchell sent several US Army planes to the area as part of the army operations there, hoping to show the power of air power in combatting civil disturbances (one of these planes crashed). Chafin's biplanes were rented from a private owner (although I am unable to find the name of it), but it is emphatically certain that they were not military planes. Cool3 (talk) 20:19, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

  According to this (non-RS) site [3] they were locally owned. I don't think scholars are certain where they came from, but once again, it is certain they had nothing to do with the Army. Cool3 (talk) 20:22, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

• PASS GA. Good work! Ling.Nut (talk) 16:11, 22 May 2009 (UTC)