Posted on 10/02/2019 9:44:19 AM PDT by PeteePie
WINDSOR LOCKS, CT (WFSB) - A vintage WWII plane crashed at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks on Wednesday morning and caused a large fire.
Six patients were brought to Hartford Hospital, the hospital said.
The Life Star emergency helicopter confirmed that it was transporting one of them.
(Excerpt) Read more at wfsb.com ...
Another thread verified that. My grandkids and I toured those planes last summer.
“No, his first name is Bill and he is a doctor.”
Guy I knew in Monmouth Illinois had the carb rebuilt on his and some cork chips from the bowl gasket plugged the main jet on takeoff. He had to bear left some to make a field and walked away. Always thought it was a beautiful plane.
Local news now say 5 dead.
Doesn’t surprise me. What will surprise me is survivors, sad to say. Thanks for the update though.
I agree.
We should wait until something official is reported.
Haste makes waste!
I met several of the pilots and toured the airplane when it was in Jacksonville last year. Tragic loss of a valuable, historic aircraft and lives!
In respect of ALL airplanes, not just tail draggers, the flight is not over until the paperwork is finished!
That was my point.
To consider that there are many possibilities and too much emphasis on the graveyard turn might be premature.
I believe so. The story mentioned something about a “Wings of Freedom” tour the bird was setting out on.
One report said that the tanks contained de-icing chemicals.
Sad. One of the very first things I learned upon taking flying lessons was forget trying to turn back if you lose power on takeoff. Look for a place to put it down and try to hit the softest cheapest thing if space is tight.
A lot of people on board. Paying Customers or maybe an Owner / Investor event?
Wow, just dug out my 20 year old Nine 0 Nine coffee mug. I bought it from the daughter of the pilot. She rode in the plexiglass nose as they ferried the plane around the country. I was insanely jealous of this person. I’m flying in the next one that comes around and offers flights...if they do that anymore...
The league I play in is age 60 to 92. Lots of Vietnam vets and a couple Korea vets play in that league. We were concerned about if anybody could survive that kind of fiery crash after looking at the pictures from news reports on our phones. The guy I was golfing with (Wayne F.)a Marine vet who was wounded at Khe San in 1968 defending one of the hills outside the firebase, said his father in law was a B-17 pilot in WW2. Wayne told me he took a passenger flight on a B-17 about 10-15 years ago at Brainard Field in nearby Hartford. He paid 300 dollars for the seat for a 30 minute flight on the old warbird. Rumor has it the 10 passengers paid 500 dollars for todays flight. Prayers go out the victims. A total tragedy.
I saw a B-25 Mitchell and P-51 Mustang flying over the same golf course near Bradley on Monday. The word was spread that the vintage aircraft were flying nearby over the last few days. Another golfer in the foursome ahead of me was a West Point grad 1973. We talked about the vintage aircraft yesterday and today before incident occurred. This is so sad.
I already had hundreds of hours in hang gliders and ultralight airplanes by the time my wife said, “We need an airplane that I can go flying in too.” So my experience and comfort level in the air was a little different than many student pilots. So when it came to spin training, I didn't want the standard “just don't get yourself into one” explanation. The flight school had one aerobatic instructor and she was a super nice and beautiful blonde ex-school teacher who was into aerobatic flying. She had her own hot little plane that she competed in.
So we took the flight school's Cessna Aerobat up for a flight. When we got to altitude I did the standard power-off spin entry I pulled the yoke all the way back and gave it full rudder. A wing dropped off and the nose was pointed at the ground and the plane started rotating. I pushed the elevator forward gave pushed full opposite rudder and we came out in a dive which we recovered from quickly. So she said, “That was a spin and you got out of it, are you happy now?” Apparently most students at that time were happy not to do it at all.
I said, “No, we weren't really spinning, we came out of it before we even made a full rotation.” So we climbed back to altitude and we did it again only this time I held the yoke back and didn't release the rudder until we had made a couple rotations. Then we did the same thing the other direction. Then we did one with full power like we were climbing out. Then we did them both directions with me holding the spin for three rotations.
So finally I asked, “What happens if you don't release the elevator and you keep the rudder pushed all the way in?” She seemed to be getting a little exasperated and said that she didn't know because no one had asked to do that before. I got the impression that she really didn't care to find out.
So we climbed to a higher altitude and I pulled the yoke back and I gave it full rudder and we started spinning. By the third time around we were going pretty good, but then the rotation started slowing and by the fifth time around the nose came up on its own and the plane started flying again. I released pressure on the yoke and the rudder and we came out of flying basically straight and level. We were not in a dive and we lost less altitude than the times I made the plane spin three times.
That was enough for me, but she was quite amazed at how it worked with the little Cessna Aerobat loaded with the two of us and tanks that were probably about 3/4 full. If the weight and balance had been different it might not have done the same thing. But I had heard previously that pilots who had managed to get themselves completely disoriented in a cloud sometimes would get themselves into a flat spin on purpose to save themselves back in the 20s and 30s. Different kind of airplanes, different spin and recovery behaviors but something you wouldn't necessarily think of as a way to save yourself.
I have never tried to spin a Cherokee and have heard that they are not a good plane to spin.
I can think of a half dozen causes of this crash but the 180 torn to the field is definitely not one of them,
A graveyard turn in an aircraft that size would have no survivors. All that would be left would be a big hole in the ground.
We do know from WWII stories that the B-17 could go back to England with an engine shut down, but the gross weight would have been in those stories down to almost empty weight.
So gross weight and CG could have been a factor. Windmilling prop plus gear and flaps down too far out???
Many others possibilities.
I just saw one report that the crew mentioned #4 engine but the report had no information about the condition of #4.
All I am sure of is that the aircraft arrived very close to the airport under controlled flight or there would have been no survivors.
Heard just a while ago that 7 were killed. Very sad.
RIP, Memory Eternal.
Re: your query about the pilots.
Collings’ pilots, aircrew and mechanics are all first rate, highly qualified and dedicated to safety.
I do not want to speculate on the cause of this accident; that is up to the NTSB and FAA.
I toured the plane also. It was too expensive for me at the time to take a ride
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