They both punched out almost simultaneously as the aircraft gave way in
downward pitch to the loss of the primary hydraulic system. I wasn't there,
but they told me it was damn close.
I lost a friend in almost the same scenario when Joe Howard with the
Thunderbirds punched out of his F4 after a similar failure during the
Transpo show at Dulles in 72. Joe's plane went in right ahead of him and he
was sucked into the fireball. He never had a chance.
It's a tough business.
Dudley Henriques

"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...
Dudley Henriques wrote:

Wasn't Chuck. Chuck went down mysteriously during a takeoff in
Connecticut in a privately owned Grumman Avenger some years back. We
still don't have a definitive answer on what happened to him that day.
Best guess is that it was contaminated fuel.
Your incident sounds like the two Bob's to me. On the second Turkey
flight out of Calverton, Bob's Miller and Smythe had a hydraulic
meltdown. They blew the gear down with the bottles but lost primary
hydraulics on final and punched just as the Turkey headed for the weeds.
Both made it!
Miller was killed in 72 at Pax before the airshow.
Dudley Henriques

I think I've got that one on a video. Didn't the one pilot and chute go
through the fireball? Looked like WAY too close for comfort.


Matt