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#3339028 - 07/10/11 07:01 PM Crash at Duxford  
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EAF331 MadDog Offline
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Seems there was an accident at Duxford Flying Legends today frown

http://www.worldwarbirdnews.com/2011/07/10/mid-air-collision-at-duxford/

"I just received word from a friend and fellow member of the CAF French Wing that P-51 “Big Beautiful Doll” collided with the French Skyraider (F-AZDP) at the Duxford Flying Legends airshow. The Mustang pilot bailed out while the Skyraider was able to land, minus several feet of right wingtip. Fortunately, no casualties have been reported (aside from the aircraft). I’ll update as more info becomes available (and hopefully some pictures from my friend)."

Pic of the Skyraider: http://yfrog.com/klytbrj

Glad no-one was killed. frown

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#3339031 - 07/10/11 07:05 PM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: EAF331 MadDog]  
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glad no one was hurt. That Mustang was a pretty bird


Archie Smythe

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#3339051 - 07/10/11 07:35 PM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: EAF331 MadDog]  
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Very glad nobody was hurt.


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#3339078 - 07/10/11 08:36 PM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: EAF331 MadDog]  
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Got a phone call from friends who were there just after the crash. The skill of the Skyraider pilot is amazing, check out those pictures:

http://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=35085&start=25

Glad both of them made it OK though!


Murphy's Law says, "Whatever can go wrong, will, and when you least expect it."
(And, of course, we all know that Murphy was an aviator.)

*aka Flying-V*
#3339118 - 07/10/11 09:52 PM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: EAF331 MadDog]  
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Shame about the Mustang, that Big Beautiful Doll paint scheme was one of the most iconic 'Stang schemes around.

A good testament to the tough construction of the old Skyraider that it made it safely down. Dey sure could build dem planes tough back den smile


In all my years I've never seen the like. It has to be more than a hundred sea miles and he brings us up on his tail. That's seamanship, Mr. Pullings. My God, that's seamanship!
#3339171 - 07/10/11 11:07 PM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: EAF331 MadDog]  
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I was with my brother in law at the Flying Legends display today and we saw the accident.

We were very relieved to hear later that the P-51 pilot was OK - we saw his chute open, but he was so low the ground (150 metres altitude at bail out maybe or less even?) that we were not sure if his fall had been arrested enough to be safe.

It happened at the very end of the day - most of the WWII era fighter aircraft (about 25 planes) had been flying in a large 'Balbo' formation over the display area before separating into threes (ie a V formation) for landing. Each trio made a final pass, and at the end of the display area they split by breaking high and left - lead plane first, then the left and finally the right plane.

The skyraider was with two mustangs as they made their final pass - skyraider on the left, and a mustang in the lead and another P-51 in the righthand position. I was only half paying attention as we were beginning to head for the exit, but I had a split second thought at the time that something seemed different about the way these three broke formation - perhaps the skyraider (on the left) went first, instead of the lead aircraft (but I cant recall for certain) (and if thats what they did, then it could well have been planned that way, as the skyraider is a much bigger beast than the mustangs).

The two aircraft (skyraider and lead mustang) then looked like they came very close to each other, but I didn't realise a collision had happened as we were some distance away, and perspective can play tricks on you, but then the skyraider veered away dramatically, and a couple of large pieces of debris could be seen fluttering earthwards - probably at least one of the bits of debris was the tip of the skyraiders right wing. Somehow the other mustang avoided becoming involved.

For the next 10? seconds (felt like a minute or more!) it seemed almost like nothing had happened. The skyraider regained control, and all three aircraft (by now well separated from one another) appeared to continue into the downward leg of their landing approach. But then the mustang pitched towards the ground, and much to everyone's relief we saw the pilot bail out, and his chute open almost immediately. Just a second or two later the plane went in at a ~45 degree angle (roughly) behind a copse of trees, and the pilot landed just a few seconds later, probably not far away from his plane. At the time we couldn't tell if the chute had slowed his landing enough, so it was a relief to learn later that he was OK. There was very little smoke from the crash - just a thin white smoke haze in the air behind the trees soon after.

Meanwhile the skyraider finished his downward leg, and landed safely a couple of minutes later. As he taxied past us and we saw the damage to his wing we realised just how skillfully he'd piloted his plane to A) regain control after the initial contact, and B) land safely so soon after!

The fire trucks rushed out towards the scene shortly after the skyraider landed.

I am so very relieved that both pilots are OK!

cheers,

#3339226 - 07/11/11 01:04 AM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: EAF331 MadDog]  
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Man that raider lost a fair chunk!


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#3339319 - 07/11/11 03:56 AM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: EAF331 MadDog]  
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My heart sank when I read the title of this thread. I'm very glad to hear that there were no lives lost. This week marks the 8th anniversary of my brother's accident at Flying Legends 2003. frown

Last edited by Paul Rix; 07/11/11 04:43 AM.

Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.
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#3339371 - 07/11/11 07:06 AM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: EAF331 MadDog]  
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@Paul, didn't knew you were the brother of the mechanic of the Firefly. We talked about it with some guys a couple days ago. Must be tough for you to see those kind of things almost happening again.

As for the crash of yesterday, there's a video on youtube, and from what can be seen, it's corroborating what my friends told me on the phone. The lead P-51 is breaking first, high and left, then the Skyraider's breaking left, but not as high as the Mustang, and really hard. Therefore he's veering into the P-51's turn, and the two collide. Could have been way much worst than that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qME7VefLxFw


Murphy's Law says, "Whatever can go wrong, will, and when you least expect it."
(And, of course, we all know that Murphy was an aviator.)

*aka Flying-V*
#3339374 - 07/11/11 07:21 AM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: EAF331 MadDog]  
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Some stills at scramble.nl/forum


'Find your enemy and shoot him down - everything else is unimportant.'

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#3339436 - 07/11/11 10:16 AM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: EAF331 MadDog]  
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Stick to the plan man!
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Glad no one is hurt.

Is it normal that the skyrider iis sooooo dirty?(from the exhaust)


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#3339454 - 07/11/11 11:08 AM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: Genbrien]  
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Originally Posted By: Genbrien
Glad no one is hurt.

Is it normal that the skyrider iis sooooo dirty?(from the exhaust)


Yes, perfectly normal. After all, the Skyraider's oil tank holds 37 gallons (!) of oil, and radial engines aren't exactly known for clean exhaust biggrin


In all my years I've never seen the like. It has to be more than a hundred sea miles and he brings us up on his tail. That's seamanship, Mr. Pullings. My God, that's seamanship!
#3339462 - 07/11/11 11:27 AM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: EAF331 MadDog]  
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Impressed that the Stang pilot could get out in time with manual bail out so low to the ground.

#3339474 - 07/11/11 12:01 PM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: EAF331 MadDog]  
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Pretty amazing to me that the Mustang pilot got out at all, let alone safe, at such a low altitude with no ejection seat. The pics I have seen show hit chute starting to open at 60 feet or so, lucky, lucky, lucky man!!!! At such altitudes, during my flying lessons, I had always figured it would be safer to ride it out then try to bail if something catastrophic happened on take off or landing, but all I can say here is WOW!!!! Lucky. The Skyraider pilot deserves mention, as the chuck of wing missing is not small by any means, and he got her down in one piece (more or less) I must say, I would have soiled my pants. Not saying that he didn't, but I would have for sure. A skilled pilot without doubt. He also had another close call earlier in the day with a spitfire according to some forums I have read since learning this happened. Lucky once? I can see that, Lucky twice? Someone is looking out for him!!!

#3339478 - 07/11/11 12:14 PM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: EAF331 MadDog]  
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He must have realised he was going to lose control (or had already done so) and slowing down to land would have increased the chances of a stall with a damaged plane so bail out was the only option.

So glad he got out so quickly and no doubt the modern parachute helped. Probably wouldn't have opened in time with a period chute.

#3339490 - 07/11/11 12:47 PM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: EAF331 MadDog]  
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Another video, pretty amazing that the Skyraider pilot recovered it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OynscjUHzxg


Murphy's Law says, "Whatever can go wrong, will, and when you least expect it."
(And, of course, we all know that Murphy was an aviator.)

*aka Flying-V*
#3339527 - 07/11/11 01:45 PM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: EAF331 MadDog]  
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Such a bummer about bbd, prettiest warbird ever imo. +1 for skyraiders doing what they've always done...bringing their pilots back safe.


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#3339547 - 07/11/11 02:13 PM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: EAF331 MadDog]  
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Lifer
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Vienna, 2nd rock left.
Just learned that Carlson's Fokker Dr.1 Replica stood on it's nose after landing, same day same place just a little later?

#3339575 - 07/11/11 02:54 PM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: EAF331 MadDog]  
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Yes there is a video of that too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciMaBKhgAGQ

#3339581 - 07/11/11 03:10 PM Re: Crash at Duxford [Re: Genbrien]  
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Originally Posted By: Genbrien
Is it normal that the skyrider iis sooooo dirty?(from the exhaust)


That might just be the overflow from the lavatory . . .

Always a tragedy when we lose a warbird, but thankful everyone involved is apparently OK!

I can second radials being very messy engines . . . we used to have a T-28A which had a 7 cylinder radial, with one cylinder being pointed straight down. We had a painted line on the prop and engine it to line them up so that the piston for that cylinder was fully extended (i.e. the peak of pressure or exhaust part of the stroke), except you only had a 50/50 shot, as the prop would also be at that point when the piston was fully retracted.

If you guessed right, you got a nice clean start. If you guessed wrong oil would seep in and fill up the cylinder, and it would barf up a gallon or three down the side of the plane when you fired it up. What a mess.

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