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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| No serious injuries in warbird crash |
| 2004-10-04 |
| No one was seriously injured when a vintage World War II plane crashed Sunday after a West Texas air show. The twin-engine transport caught fire, but the blaze was immediately contained, according to a news release from Tina Corbett, spokeswoman for the Commemorative Air Force. Flights from Midland International Airport were suspended for a short time. The plane, a C-60 Lodestar, received major damage to the tail section and engines when it struck the ground just after takeoff. All five people aboard walked away from the crash. One was treated at the scene for minor abrasions. The accident occurred after the Fina-CAF AIRSHO 2004 had ended. The plane had flown during the air show on Saturday, but not on Sunday, the CAF said. The C-60, piloted by Stan Peterson, 61, of Boulder, Colo., was departing for Boulder, where it is operated by the Mile High Wing of the CAF. The damaged aircraft, designed by Lockheed, was delivered to the U.S. Army Air Forces in October 1943 and reassigned to the Royal Canadian Air Force, where it was used as an executive transport. It was donated to the CAF in 1961. The Midland-based CAF, the former Confederate Air Force, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to flying and restoring World War II aircraft. Mile High Wing's (hmmmm...) C-60 Lodestar, still in Howard VIP configuration except for WW2 paint. |
| Posted by:Atomic Conspiracy |
| #4 Hey! It's time to move on.... now let's get ready for some low flying VooDoos! |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-10-04 8:08:11 PM |
| #3 I saw the proceedures sheet on how to bail out of a P-38 with its slice and dice horizontal stabilizer. Would not want to do it myself. These birds are special. I kinda agree with AC on grounding them to preserve them. I feel lucky to have seen quite a few of them fly. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-10-04 6:51:45 PM |
| #2 As much as I love the old birds, I think it might be time to stop flying them at all, with the possible exception of very numerous types like the C-47 (500+) and T-6 (350+). By modern standards, aircraft like the Corsair and Spitfire weren't really safe when they were new, as demonstrated by the appalling accident statistics from the WW2 era. The designers and procurement authorities of the time were well aware of this of course, but the civilized world was fighting for its very life, air superiority was vital, and every last drop of capability had to be rung from the available technology. In retrospect, the performance of WW2 aircraft is quite remarkable considering the general level of technology at the time. 400 mph is slow only in relative terms. In objective terms it is very fast, just watch a 400 mph low-level pass some time. Today, modern maintenance techniques and money-no-object rebuilds can only go so far in overcoming the inherent limits of 1930s technology. The attrition rate for these grand old aircraft is much, much lower than it was in their youth, but some attrition is inevitable and the numbers are small, fixed, and dwindling. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-10-04 6:45:15 PM |
| #1 First off, praise and thanks be to God that the only damage was material and no lives were lost. Having said that, one might note that there have been an increasing number of antique aircraft/warbird crashes in recent years. These magnificent old birds are becoming increasingly fragile and difficult to maintain, and even the CAF itself is becoming increasingly reluctant to send their birds on the tours they used to make. A F4U Corsair went in here in SC two years ago after an airshow, and the only thing that avoided fatalities on the ground was the pilot's sacrifice - he stayed with the bird and kept it from going into a housing development. The powers-that-be refused to even have the show the following year unless it was moved almost 30 miles away. Many more accidents, even if they only result in bent aluminum, will end up finishing warbird flying. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2004-10-04 2:01:39 PM |