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Post by kiwi on Apr 29, 2008 12:20:46 GMT 12
The recently completed Hurricane that wore a desert colour scheme ground looped and the 2 seat Spitfire TE308 chopped off it's tail when it ran into it at Galveston yesterday . The Spitfire's U/C collapsed as well . Both pilots uninjured .
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Post by beagle on Apr 29, 2008 12:23:20 GMT 12
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Post by stu on Apr 29, 2008 12:32:49 GMT 12
The link below includes a rather expensive looking photo ... main thing was that nobody was hurt and the planes can be repaired. www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5736309.htmlApril 28, 2008, 5:45PM Collision damages vintage planes in Galveston air showBy HARVEY RICE and ERIC HANSON Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle GALVESTON — Two vintage aircraft, one of them recently restored after 15 years of effort and $2 million, were damaged seriously over the weekend in a ground collision at a Galveston air show, the president of the Lone Star Flight Museum said on Monday.
A Supermarine Spitfire taxied into the rear of the recently restored Hawker Hurricane at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday, flattening the Hurricane's tail section, museum President Larry Gregory said.
Those two types of fighters played crucial roles in the Royal Air Force's victory over the German Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain in World War II.
"It's a shame it happened," Gregory said. "As an organization, we're very disappointed."
Erin Napier, curator of the Canadian Aviation Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario, said there are only 32 Hawker Hurricanes in the world today. Of that total, just 18 are known to be airworthy.
The damage to both planes will be repaired, Gregory said, although it may take months.
No one was injured in what Gregory said was the first accident in the 18-year history of museum air shows at Scholes International Airport.
Gregory said the cause of the accident has not been determined. He said the brakes on the Spitfire were being examined and the Federal Aviation Administration was investigating.
The Hurricane, which had about 15 hours of flying time since its restoration, is painted like a Hurricane flown in World War II by Texas air ace Lance Wade of Reklaw, Rusk County, Gregory said. The plane is owned by the museum.
Wade enlisted in the RAF in 1940, shooting down some 25 enemy aircraft before his death in 1944.
The 15-year restoration of the Hurricane cost about $2 million and was completed in May 2006, Gregory said. He said the fighter was painted in November to resemble Wade's Hurricane.
The Spitfire, registered to a private owner in Colorado, appeared to have damage to the wings and landing gear, Gregory said.
Both aircraft are in a hangar, where they will remain until the FAA completes its investigation, he said.
Michael O'Leary, editor of Air Classics magazine, said the Hurricane involved in Saturday's accident was built in Canada and assigned to the Royal Canadian Air Force.
O'Leary said the Hurricane crash-landed in New Foundland in July 1944 after the engine failed. The pilot was uninjured.
"The aircraft was written off and sort of left where it was," O'Leary said.
O'Leary said the Hurricane was recovered in the late 1960s or early 1970s. It was stored by a series of owners until it was acquired by the Lone Star Flight Museum, which shipped it to a restoration shop in Fort Collins, Colo.
"The Hurricane bridged the technology between the biplane and the monoplane. It still had a lot of biplane technology. The structure is quite complicated with a fair amount of wood in it," he said.
O'Leary said the value of vintage warplanes has grown in recent years to such an extent that damaged aircraft are being recovered from remote locations around the world and restored.
He said several Hurricanes have been found on frozen tundras in Russia where they crashed after being shot down during World War II.
harvey.rice@chron.com eric.hanson@chron.com |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 29, 2008 16:28:52 GMT 12
You can read more about this accident in a thread on WIX, including reaction directly from Bill Greenwood who was flying his Spitfire, on this now long thread warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=21481&sid=f2b56b01100216e8e197d4d438671f55In the meantime: I think that description is not strictly accurate, as both were landing, and on run out of the landing, when the Hurricane groundlooped in front of the Spitfire by all accounts I've read all over the net yesterday. It's harsh to make this look like Bill's fault. That's a very high estimate, a few months ago I read there were just 10 flyable after the crash in England wrote one off last year. It was also apparently the first accident in the 25 year history of Bill Greenwood flying his beloved Spitfire. He's a very experienced pilot. |
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Post by amitch on Apr 29, 2008 16:43:56 GMT 12
Another example of different reports of an event that don't quite match the facts. Just a few days ago here a Cessna crashed into a hangar, or so the media had us to believe.
Unless you are 100% sure of your facts, the best thing to do is say nothing and wait for the truth to come out.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 29, 2008 16:50:00 GMT 12
Yes, too true. Disregard my comments. I'm just going by what several independent eye-witnesses have written on various sites. But we will wait to see what the investigators find.
Funnily I have not seen anywhere who the Hurricane pilot was. Anyone know?
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Post by flyjoe180 on Apr 29, 2008 22:26:00 GMT 12
What a disappointment that must be for the organisation involved. And for warbird fans across the world. But as Stu says, aeroplanes can be rebuilt; pilots can't.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 29, 2008 22:39:19 GMT 12
Huge disappointment for both owners involved I'd think.
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Post by flyjoe180 on Apr 29, 2008 22:54:03 GMT 12
Yes, the photos aren't showing much detail but the damage looks pretty bad even from a distance.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 4, 2008 20:06:38 GMT 12
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Post by sniff on May 4, 2008 20:53:51 GMT 12
Groundloop?
I wonder if the corporate knowledge of flying a taildragger is being lost?
The one in the US last week seems to indicate the Spitfire didnt know what was under his nose.....
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 4, 2008 21:07:37 GMT 12
Sniff, I don't want to speculate but in the case of the US collision, I don't think a loss of knowledge of taildraggers applies to the Spitfire pilot Bill Greenwood. He's flown that aircraft for 25 years and is one of the world's most experienced Spitfire pilots.
As for other pilots not knowing enough about taildraggers, I don't know. I'm no expert.
Also Bill stated in the WIX thread I linked above that he was planning to fly a display following the Hurricane, though not in close formation, which it seems is what happened from photos I've seen. So he would have known the Hurricane was in front of him, I'm sure. Perhaps he didn't realise it had stopped suddenly and unexpectedly however.
As for the latest accident, I haven't a clue what happened. It doesn't look too badly damaged so cannot have been going at much speed, if any.
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Post by sniff on May 4, 2008 21:29:11 GMT 12
I am not wanting to aportion blame, Dave, but there does appear to be a common thread coming through the discussion, both in words and photographic evidence.
1. You mentioned the Hurricane may have ground-looped ahead of the Spitfire at Galveston.
2. Landing/Take-off on sealed surfaces is always less forgiving than grass.
3. Airmanship dictates safety over pushing on, whether it is the aircraft in front of you during a landing, or taxying behind another aircraft, when your own aircraft has a high nose.
I dont know, Dave, but taildraggers are a different beast; look at the history of the Harvard in the RNZAF.
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Post by Bruce on May 4, 2008 23:16:06 GMT 12
I wonder if the corporate knowledge of flying a taildragger is being lost?.... I'm doing my best to increase the corporate knowledge of flying taildraggers... well, my knowledge at least!  another session of skipping down Ardmores runway trying to master wheelers ... may yet win! |
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