An opinion sought from those who have piloted a Wildcat....

[MKD1966]

Actually I believe this is the CAF's N681S that was destroyed in a fatal crash in October of 2003

[Shay]

Actually I believe this is the CAF's N681S that was destroyed in a fatal crash in October of 2003

After taking another look through the registry. I'm sad to say I think you might be right.

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/f4fregistry/f4f-55585.html

Shay
____________
Semper Fortis

[Warbirdnerd]

Actually I believe this is the CAF's N681S that was destroyed in a fatal crash in October of 2003

I believe this Wildcat has been sold by the CAF and is being rebuilt...

[Jack Cook]

A friend looked at it with the possibility of purchasing the remains for rebuild. But there just wasn't much left except destroyed wreckage
Maybe someone else bought it or the paperwork?

[retroaviation]

No, I can say for sure that the entire remains of the airplane was sold. I personally loaded the container up on the truck when it left here. I tried to buy it myself, but they apparently didn't like the offer I made (however, I was only told "we don't sell airplanes" at the time). They ended up selling it to an "annonymous buyer" who is a major Warbird collector. He bought it sight unseen, for twice as much as I had offered. I reckon it helps to have deep pockets.

Gary

[Jase]

That pic is indeed N681S, and the gentleman in front of the plane is Bob Peters, who recently passed away. I miss both the Kitty and Bob..

Thanks for posting that pic, Shay. 2001-2002 time frame maybe?

Quick edit to note that while Bob was the pilot of 681S for some years, he was NOT the pilot who stalled it in as noted below.

And thanks Bill, I concur with your thoughts.

Last edited by Jase on Wed Jan 31, 2007 7:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Bill Greenwood]

There may be something to learn from the CAF Wildcat accident. First when you are learning to fly as a student pilot one of the basics is to avoid stalls, that is to keep the speed up enough and g or drag down so a safe margin above stall speed. This is especially important when landing and we fly about 1.5 VSO (stall speed) in the pattern slowing to 1.3 on final,(80K in my Spit) This HAS to be so fundmental that we don't violate it, even after years of experience. It would be great if all students that would later fly fighters, etc. could get "warbird type instructors" to stress things like this, and we learned in something other than an all forgiving 172. It seems in this accident that it was a little congested in the pattern, on final, and the pilot made some S turns at minimum speed to stay behind the plane in front of him. He may have also gotten wake turbulence off the B-25. It seems he got into a stall departuere and was too low to recover. We had all been up for photos with the B-25, it was a beautiful evening. I landed just before the Wildcat and the 25. It was a little congested when I came on initial, so I just continued overhead and into downwind, then landed and did not get into the same trap. We were not using the Air Boss, rather a standard controller so there was a bit more confusion. It only takes a small thing to cause a tragedy. I did not see it happen, he was behind me, my version is only an estimate. I didn't know the pilot, but he was parked next to me for the weekend.He worked very hard on cleaning and presenting the plane.

[Bill Greenwood]

There may be something to learn from the CAF Wildcat accident. First when you are learning to fly as a student pilot one of the basics is to avoid stalls, that is to keep the speed up enough and g or drag down so a safe margin above stall speed. This is especially important when landing and we fly about 1.5 VSO (stall speed) in the pattern slowing to 1.3 on final,(80K in my Spit) This HAS to be so fundmental that we don't violate it, even after years of experience. It would be great if all students that would later fly fighters, etc. could get "warbird type instructors" to stress things like this, and we learned in something other than an all forgiving 172. It seems in this accident that it was a little congested in the pattern, on final, and the pilot made some S turns at minimum speed to stay behind the plane in front of him. He may have also gotten wake turbulence off the B-25. It seems he got into a stall departuere and was too low to recover. We had all been up for photos with the B-25, it was a beautiful evening. I landed just before the Wildcat and the 25. It was a little congested when I came on initial, so I just continued overhead and into downwind, then landed and did not get into the same trap. We were not using the Air Boss, rather a standard controller so there was a bit more confusion. It only takes a small thing to cause a tragedy. I did not see it happen, he was behind me, my version is only an estimate. I didn't know the pilot, but he was parked next to me for the weekend.He worked very hard on cleaning and presenting the plane.

Bill, your account of the accident is pretty accurate. I watched all of you guys land that night (and fondly remember your break, which was gorgeous in the sunset). The main thing however, was that in reality, the Wildcat wasn't that close to the B-25. "Devil Dog" was touching down when the Wildcat was still a ways out. According to the report, he had even asked for an overhead, so I'm not quite sure why he was doing steep S-turns. Not much of what I was watching made sense, but as soon as the airplane departed I knew it. It was just like watching the Firefly footage from earlier that same year.

It was a very sad day for me. I had never seen a crash before, and actually still see it every day at some point. Because of this, I refuse to watch footage of a fatal crash. Just a personal preference.

I'm glad she will fly again one day. I hope Mr. Johnson would want that.