Good start to Oshgosh, NOT

[Milosh]

Two Vintage Warbirds Crashed In Separate Incidents On Eve Of Oshkosh Air Show (Updated)

 

[vikingBerserker]

<BLEEP!!>

 

[mikewint]

Scheisse

 

[Airframes]

Ah, B*ll*cks !
Hate to see this sort of thing - hope the crews were OK ?

 

[YGBSM]

Not good.

The silver lining is that all 13 aboard the C-47 appear to have survived the aborted takeoff. Unfortunately, the pilot of the De Havilland Venom did not survive.

 

[Capt. Vick]

Damn...RIP

 

[N4521U]

A real tragedy for the injured, and deceased.
Very sad.

 

[GrauGeist]

Oh, this is sad news indeed.

 

[PWR4360-59B]

Its just horrible to have the loss of life and the aircraft.

 

[Gnomey]

This sucks!

 

[FSG43]

Two Vintage Warbirds Crashed In Separate Incidents On Eve Of Oshkosh Air Show (Updated)

Watched the C-47 take-off roll and attempted lift-off. Having a very small amount of DC-3 flight time plus a fair amount of tail wheel time, my initial impression is that the flying pilot attempted a premature lift-off for some reason- either by his/her efforts or something mechanical. The airplane should have been on its main gear, rolling and accelerating until Vlof was attained. Doesn't appear that occurred in this instance. The left wing appears to have stalled and the rest is well-documented in the film. Sad to see folks get hurt and a beautiful airplane destroyed. Thankfully they were in the Diesel-three... anything of today's quality there could have been more serious injuries. Seen that many times. I'm going to look at the film again... wish it was larger.

Update of sorts: I was finally able to watch the take-off video on a larger screen. I noticed the airplane yaw slightly to the left during it's initial roll and it looks like the left main was in the grass, followed by the tail wheel which created dust a few seconds later; so the left main had to be close to or on the runway edge grass. During that time it appears as though the tail wheel rises and returns to the runway.

As the airplane continued down the runway, it turned slightly to the right and began it's lift-off. Note the tail wheel dragging through the dry grass on the runway edge. Easy to understand since the runway's only 75-feet wide and the 3's gear is about 20-feet wide. Not a lot of room for snaking on the runway (about 52-feet either side of the gear's tires--- how long will it take to go that far at 60-70-knots?). I was unable to see any rudder or elevator movement during the event.

The winds were less than 10-knots so they wouldn't have that much affect on the take-off roll.

If you're trying to control the snaking on the take-off roll with power, that'll result in slow response. Imagine that with a set of locked controls, just as you lift off like a free flight model airplane... only you're a nice, full-sized, DC-3. Why the power wasn't reduced to idle at the first sign of runway edge approach/departure is only something the flying pilot can answer. One will have to wait until the NTSB finishes their report; at the first yaw they should have been cut.

It appears as though the 3 lifted off like a free flight model airplane-- it probably had just enough lift to get off the ground. That wing is big and draggy... and the 3 will slow down fast. The right wing banks downward slightly followed by the left as this wing stalls. Once the left wing contacted the ground, the 3 yawed more and we all saw the result.

The 3 has a combo control lock on the rudder and elevator. The film was such qualtiy that I was unable to see if it was still on. The way it lifted off, as a model airplane, and picture of no control deflection suggests the controls were locked by something. Just thank God all survived.

 

[maxmwill]

Words escape me as to this sad news, other than to ask if there is any preliminary assessment on any reasons for the Venom to have crashed?

I could reply obscenely, as a few have here, but even that can't erase the sad feeling that not only was a pilot killed doing what he loved to do, but a tiny bit of aviation history has been erased in such a swift manner.