Warbird Information Exchange

I'm glad to hear that you are ok Bill

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Paul Filmer
skippyscage photography

My thoughts are with you too, Bill. Glad you're okay.

August

I don't know about you guys but I would be willing to chip in some money to Bill to help fix his plane up. Just a thought.

Bill has been more then kind to share his stories and his plane with us. Just seems like a way to repay a favor.

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Shop the Airplane Bunker At
www.warbirdbunker.com

Just got back from a long roadtrip and all hell breaks lose. Sorry Bill to hear of your mishap, I'm glad your safe and sound. The Spit can be repaired and Bill probably can handle it himself, If you own a spit, you can afford a spit. PM us if you need help. PM me if you need anything else. And I don't even want a ride when you get back in the air.

It easily could have been much worse. Any plane can be fixed and we are all thankfull that no one was physically hurt.

Pirate Lex
http://www.BrewsterCorsair.com

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An ego is no match for gravity.

And as just a reminder, before anyone attempts to place blame, every single pilot, ATC controller and Airboss in the world makes mistakes from time to time. After all, we are human. Even Chuck Yeager has screwed up and bent metal in airplanes before where it was clearly his fault. Even a VERY well known and respected airshow performer forgot to lower his gear, thus sustaining damage to a vintage warbird. So, it can happen to anybody! The important thing was that this was not as serious as it could have been. Flying a 60+ year old warbird in a busy airshow environment is not for the faint of heart. My hats off to Bill and everyone else who flies warbirds at airshows for the rest of us to enjoy. Mistakes happen and we learn from them, and move on. Unfortunately, that's the nature of the beast when flying old airplanes that are much less forgiving than modern airplanes.

I for one am NOT glad Bill is okay! He would have made a MUCH better liberal here if he could raise his mangled hand in the air and say "I got this flying combat warbirds and YOU sir, have no scars that I can see!) And then he would growl and win the argument right there.


Just kidding, Bill. Erm. how is Ms. Bill taking all this?

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"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

Clay my friend .... I for one completely understand your point, but for those who have NOT felt the fire and sacrifice and pain you have seen and felt in your years of sacrifice, well, you are going to meet with mis-understanding. I'm sure Bill climbed out of that cockpit and said ... "Wow!!! ... what the hell happened?", then ran over to the Hurricane to see if his partner in aviation was safe. Bill, as all of us, has ONE priority over any airplane, at anytime, at any place. .... The safety of ALL involved. Bill, I'm sure would rather see his beloved Spit burn than to see any fellow avaitor in trouble. That's why we let Bill hang out with us WIX folks. ..... A wonderful Heart and soul. Bill's just fine tonight and Bill will be here for us as we are here for Bill.

A nasty spill, for sure, but I'd just like to add my thanks that everyone's OK.

SN

You're right, I'm sure. For those who didn't get the joke, I'm a veteran who has been dinged. I would never really wish that on anybody.

I was in a car wreck recently and as I was spinning in circles on a busy interstate all I could think of was that I didn't mind dying as long as I stayed off of everybody else. Avoiding other innocents was my primary focus for that thirty seconds, followed by an overwhelming gratitude that we had ALL made it out okay. As I sat there after it was all over, watching the herd of cars race by I couldn't see how we had all managed not to wrap me around them. But sure was happy that we didn't

I'm sure Bill had similar thoughts racing through his head as it all went down, and I'm sure the other pilot was thinking the same--it's what you do. Glad they both made it out all right, and I'm glad Bill will be here for years to come!

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"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

Since Bill's okay, and I really don't care why it happened, I just want to say - Be sure to put up plenty of pictures of the repair process Bill!

Glad you and the other pilot are okay. It's always sad to see this kind of incident (witnessed the result of a pair of Metroliners running over each other at Denver several years back, pictures on Jetphotos.net of that one), but thankfully most come out unhurt just as you guys. I'm just glad that at least this time the planes are repairable (the Metros were both scrapped).

Bill, get up tomorrow, take a good look at the mess and lets move on and get your Spit fixed. As well as the Hurricane. .... Sh*t happen's and we move on. ... Mishap over the weekend? ... what mishap? .... just a fender bender. .... Blue skies here today!!! ... How long until your girl is in the air again? ... any ideas?

Bill,

Sir, I am so sad to just get the news tonight at 11:38 P.M., I was with my kids all weekend with really no access to the internet.

I am just glad that you are ok. I know it hurts to see the plane like that, but again, I am so thankful that you are doing just fine and that noone else was hurt.

I take my hat off to you on keeping the old girl alive and I wish you well in getting her back up where she wants to be.

If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know. I again, am SO glad that you are fine and well my friend.

Respectfully,

Mr.Greenwood,
I am sorry to hear of the mishap and I am glad you are OK. My heart sank to hear of the Spit, but to know that a fellow WIXer is safe, is much a better feeling. She will fly again and we will all be looking forward to see her. Through the grey clouds, the sun will shine real soon. - Keith G

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Some people are like slinkys, good for nothing but bring a smile to your face when pushed down stairs.

I don't know if anybody has considered this, but has anyone thought that Bill might not be able to afford the repairs on the Spitfire? I know he has complained in the past about the high cost of operating expenses to keep it flying. Bill can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe he bought it about 1983 or so. At that time, IIRC, Spitfires were going for less than $200,000. Bill was lucky and was able to buy it when it was cheap before they skyrocketed out of sight.

My intent is not to pry upon Bill's personal finances, but what if he can't afford to repair the work? Would the WIX board come to the rescue like we did with Ole' 927? This situation has happened in the past when Lefty's son crash-landed the P-38 which he had for years. Lefty got that aircraft when they were dirt cheap and had no money to restore it after it's crash. The result is he was forced to sell it to Red Bull where it now sits at Breckenridge, pending completion of it's restoration. This is just one instance where warbird owners could not afford to repair/restore a warbird that they bought many years ago before the prices spiraled out of control.

Many people think that warbird owners are multi-millionaires, and that is certainly the case for new owners, but there are still a lot of owners out there who bought them when they were cheap in the 60's, and 70's, but may not even make 6 figures a year in income. Yet, they continue to fly their warbirds, and are barely able to keep them flying on a shoe-string budget. I'm hoping that this isn't the case with Bill.

I wish Bill all the luck in getting TE 308 back to flying, but I'm wondering whether this might be beyond his economic means? Hopefully not.