[MasterGunner01]

Point is well taken. Wake turbulence does not take mechanical failure into account. There was observed mechanical failure in this case.

I will defer to an experienced retired naval aviator with over 26 years of experience. He saw things happen that were indications of at least one and possibly more mechanical failures.

He saw the P-51 pitch up after it lost its elevator trim tab. It went into a roll that the pilot was not able to stop and he wound-up in a pitch down attitude where he impacted the ground. Game over.

[Yosemitest]

" Wake turbulence does not take mechanical failure into account"

From post #10:

In rare instances a wake encounter could cause inflight structural damage of catastrophic proportions.