Another WWII Warbird gone....F6F Hellcat

[JohnHKart]

It's never good to get a phone call from someone in the industry saying he has bad news. Heard that the Planes of Fame of Chino's F6F went down in Tenesssee, Sat, killing the veteran pilot. I think the airplane was one of the original planes when Ed Maloney opened his museum in 1957. Sad stuff. As it's still early and kin are being notified I'm not allowed to disclose the pilot's name, but will later.

John

[stroker]

Man, that's a shame to lose any pilot, but losing the plane hurts, too.

You look at the loss rates for those planes just due to accident and it makes you wonder whether we should be flying them... Every time they leave the ground there's an X% chance of them not coming down right. Seems a shame to let them sit on the ground in flying condition, but taking them up seems irresponsible to the call to have them around in the future...

I wonder if the original blueprints for most of those planes still exist?

[Winston Wolfe]

I was at the Orange County Concours D'Elegance last week on Sunday at Strawberrt Farms G.C., and as part of the festivities, they had a flyover of a WWII fighter. I believe it was a Hellcat or a Corsair.
Regardless, when this thing made a pass over the display area (which was the driving range any other day - plenty wide and long), it was DAMN impressive to watch that thing come down at the crowd and make a few passes.... Very impressive. The EmCee even said "imagine what it must have felt like to be the enemy" when it made one of the low passes right at the field.
Sorry to see us lose another one... and especially the pilot. These guys are taking risks every time they fly one of these old birds. :(

[oddlycalm]

Bummer. :( Couldn't find anything in my news searches about it. Anyone have any idea what happened?

oc

[nrc]

Always sad to lose an old warbird and even sadder to lose one of the men helping to keep them flying. Static displays will always be preserved in museums. It's the planes that still fly that really put a lump in your throat and give you an appreciation for these birds.

The Hellcat was my favorite fighter. Tough as nails and very forgiving, it was the right plane at the right time.

[RTKar]

Bummer news. Sorry for the family.

I wonder how many F6F's are left.

[G.]

Dayum. Went to a static show this wkend with g. Talked to a pilot that was flying a pretty new Russian Trainer. Found it odd, he carried a 'chute. Found it odd is all. Can't blame him. Just seems weird.

Godspeed, to the Pilot.

[JohnHKart]

Looks like it's okay to post the info as it's now on this website

http://www.aafo.com/hangartalk/showthread.php?t=2511


Art Vance was always very nice to me..even when shooing me out of the pilots' meeting area at the Reno Air Races. A great guy with a lot of experience....this is very sad. I couldn't beliieve it when Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes Sunday, was criticizing how unattractive power lines are......and that they should be buried underground. They are ugly, and the damn things kill people too.

John

[nrc]

Bummer news. Sorry for the family.

I wonder how many F6F's are left.

This site shows 16 on display, stored or in restoration and 8 (now 7) airworthy. There may be others not registered there, but that's not many compared to a lot of other warbirds.

Looks like this may be the bird that went down.
http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/registry/f6fregistry/f6f-93879.html

[JohnHKart]

That is the F6F....Art Vance was also the owner of a P-51D based in Santa Rosa, CA called Million Dollar Baby and later Speedball Alice.

John