"C J Campbell" wrote in message ...
... One main gear collapsed, then the other as he
groundlooped. The gear bolts were connected directly to the fuel tanks, so
when the gear collapsed the bottom of the fuel tank was ripped out.

I'm still early in the learning stages of aircraft design but offhand
that design choice sounds rather ill-considered. Am I missing something?

The
plane burst into a spectacular fire which was caught on film by several
cameras on the ground and a camera in the chase plane. It was pitiful
watching Bremerton's lone fire truck (a pickup truck with a water tank on
the back) try to put this thing out. The water would not even reach the
fire.

His wife was sure he was dead because we did not see him get out. As it
turned out he had only a cut on his thumb. ...

--

FF