Today, he is flying with the Angels. RIP, Jimmy.
Posted on 07/28/2007 4:35:00 PM PDT by FunkyZero
... WHIO-TV reported pilot Jim LeRoy of Billings, Montana, died on the way to the hospital after his S2S Bulldog biplane crashed at the end of a runway at Dayton International Airport in Ohio...
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Prayers for the family as well. My dad worked at Wright Patterson many years and when family came in from out of town he always took them to the Air Force Museum there in Dayton.
This was quite traumatic. I’m still a little shaken up, I watched this happen right in front of me at the show today.
It’s so sad, I can’t really put it into words. Jim LeRoy was a fantastic performer and top-notch pilot. This is a huge loss to say the least.
http://www.whiotv.com/index.html
http://wdtn.com/Global/story.asp?S=6854178
http://www.wkef22.com/
RIP Jim. I had tickets to the show today but could not make it.
Jim LeRoy
Jim LeRoy has been around aviation all of his life. A third generation pilot, Jim got an early start with flying thanks to his family. After graduating from high school, Jim enlisted in the Marine Corps where he served with the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. Jim earned his instrument rating, commercial license, and flight instructors rating through the Marine Corps Flying Club located at Camp Pendleton. He then began working as a flight instructor for the club, giving checkouts and primary instruction. It was in 1982 when Jim began to dabble in aerobatics at Art Scholl Aviation in Rialto, California. In 1985, Jim, now a Sergeant, received an honorable discharge and left the Marine Corps to attend the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana, Illinois. Jim majored in Aeronautical Engineering with a special interest in flight control and propulsion. After earning his degree, Jim worked for GE Aircraft Engines as a design engineer and later accepted a position as plant manager for a power plant located in northern California. Jim worked at this plant until leaving in 1997 to work full time as an air show pilot.
Jim LeRoy is the 2002 recipient of the Art Scholl Award, and the 2003 recipient of the Bill Barber Award, the two most coveted honors an air show performer can receive. Considered by many as the premier solo act in the air show industry today, Jim LeRoy has pushed aerobatic flying to a new and unsurpassed level. The 2006 season will be Jim’s 13th year as an air show performer, and he promises to again dazzle audiences world-wide.
Today, he is flying with the Angels. RIP, Jimmy.
Jim was my cousin. . . I post this in memory of him
High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
— John Gillespie Magee, Jr
Condolences to you, yours, and his, Reb....
I am so sorry for your loss, Reb, and for the rest of the family. Please accept my heartfelt condolences and prayers for peace and comfort to you and the entire family. Yorkie
So true.
I watched Jim fly quite a few times in the last few years.
He was one of those guys.. you could watch his show and tell, it’s what he lived for... one of those fellows that no longer climbed into an airplane, he strapped it on.
I’m so glad he chose to share his talents with the world. He will surely be missed in many respects.
Ryan Shinabery
He must have been quite a pilot to wrestle that plane around the way he did.
What a horrible day.
Prayers for the family.
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