The odds are against it when dealing with old warbirds. Some of us, like
myself, make it through somehow and retire to our lawns and shrubs, but the
very nature of the venue many times demands more of both man and machine
than either can deliver on the levels needed to sustain the constant
performance demanded of each.
Old warbirds are a collection of parts, each aging through years of stress.
The demands on those of us who enjoy flying these airplanes are constant.
It's seldom that I ever took off in one of these old airplanes that things
stayed working through the flight as they were working at takeoff. Something
almost ALWAYS changed and had to be dealt with during the flight. It could
be a hung gyro, a bad plug, something not working in the intercooler, God
knows what. You just had to be on top of things ALL the time.
One thing about these crashes is that it seldom turns out to be a single
thing that caused it. It's usually a combination of things going wrong at
just the wrong time and adding up to not enough time or altitude to fix
things.
Lord knows what must have happened to Vance. He was a VERY competent pilot
flying a normally stable and easy to fly F6F. Something must have gone wrong
for him that was unfixable for sure.
I'm very sorry it happened to him. I've seen it happen to 32 of my friends
through the years flying these airplanes.
I've learned long ago that things like this just go with the lifestyle.
Dudley Henriques

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" wrote in message
. ..
Orval Fairbairn wrote:
In article ,
"comanche driver" wrote:

the aircraft was a F6F belonging to planes of fame in chino. the pilot
was a
very well know warbird pilot and also raced at Reno. he flew safety cap
at
Reno in his mustang after bob Hoover retired from that position.

from secondhand info I have heard, he had mechanical problems of some
sort
and was trying to put it down on the freeway and clip some power lines.


That's too bad. I always hate to hear of someone with a long flying
career not dying peacefully in their sleep when their time comes. It's
something they've earned.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE