geekhack Community > Other Geeky Stuff

Tragic loss of a B-17 at an air show

(1/3) > >>

fohat.digs:
Yesterday one of the last 9 flying B-17 bombers crashed and burned at an air show. (disclosure - B-17 was the plane my father crewed in WW2 (based in England at RAF Alconbury) with the 8th Air Force)

It was struck by a P-63 in mid-air. Was that pilot an idiot or was there some other explanation?

While the B-17 is legendary and was built by the thousands, the P-63 is not very well known. It is basically a greatly-improved P-39, and almost all of them were given to the Soviets for use in the Pacific theater.

SBJ:
Terrible accident (I hope).
I don't know enough about planes to have an idea of what happened, but it's tragic.

tp4tissue:
how did, i mean, it's a big plane, but yea every thing look small when you're up there, pilot could've lost vision from blood pressure doing stunt plane stuff.

Leslieann:

--- Quote from: tp4tissue on Sun, 13 November 2022, 09:52:28 ---]how did, i mean, it's a big plane, but yea every thing look small when you're up there, pilot could've lost vision from blood pressure doing stunt plane stuff.

--- End quote ---
The angle the P-63 came in/down at meant the B-17 was under it's nose, as big as the B-17 is, they never saw it.
They should have seen it at some point much earlier on but there was a lot of planes in the airspace and flying directly in their path to keep track of. Too many planes and not enough coordination. Accident waiting to happen.


Get out and see these old planes flying while you can, there's 4 flying B-17's left in the U.S. and only two flying B-29's in the world. Pretty sure they spent $1B getting Doc, a B-29, flying again and they probably couldn't do another for anywhere close to that.

noisyturtle:
When I was a kid I saw a airshow crash in Maryland. A stuntman was doing that trick where they nosedive at the ground and pull up at the last moment, except he didn't pull up in time. What I remember the most was how the announcer basically glazed over it saying medics were checking on him and to enjoy some refreshments from the concession stand. The velocity and subsequent fireball, everyone knew he did not make it.

Also very odd how you worded this with more concern about the loss of the plane than of the human life

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page