Well, it's been a hell of a day to say the least. There are definitely days where you think you should have just gone back to bed. I can't comment on details really (don't know much more than what's in the news postings anyway) - but I talked with Ray briefly and apparently he had just left the airport by a few minutes in the Liberty Foundation's P-40 on their way to their next stop in Indiana. He turned around when the incident occurred and has been dealing with this all day - he's in emergency mode right now, so I just more or less expressed my sympathy and let him get back to it.

The death of this fine lady comes as a shock and I feel sad for the loss but I feel a bit philosophical at the same time. I feel that it would have been a bigger tragedy to keep this warbird locked up in a museum. She had a devoted family of mechanics, pilots, crew, and volunteers to keep her airworthy and a plane like that needs to spread her wings.

I was only ever a volunteer, but I will cherish the time I was able to spend showing people the aircraft and the flights I had for the rest of my life.

Rest in peace Liberty Belle, thank you for getting your final crew on the ground safe.

The death of this fine lady comes as a shock and I feel sad for the loss but I feel a bit philosophical at the same time. I feel that it would have been a bigger tragedy to keep this warbird locked up in a museum.

Here's more info from the Liberty Foundation on the loss:

http://www.libertyfoundation.org/index.html

It sounds to me like there was minimal damage from the landing, and the firetrucks could have put the fire out but didn't want to get stuck on the wet field, so they didn't go in.