Warbird Information Exchange

Lance is putting an order together for the 3rd season dvd set so give him a shout...

http://spitcrazy.com/retail.htm

or

519.745.2661

Historic Aviation now offers Ice Pilots NWT seasons 1-2-3 on DVD at $39.95 per season, plus postage.

http://www.historicaviation.com

_________________
Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

Lance never put an order together so I ordered mine through the Ice Pilot web page and its on the way..

I received season 3 very quickly and was watching the dambusters and notice a film they were watching where a A-26 was trying to drop the bomb only for it to bounce up and take the tail off. Does anybody have any intel as when and where that was?

TIA,

Lynn

In my A-26 book, it says the incident happened in the Gulf of Mexico near Panama City, FL. The tests were being conducted out of Eglin airfield. There were actually 2 such incidents with the modified A-26C. The first occurred on 24 April 1945 when they made multiple drops from altitudes of 6-10 feet. One release cleared by 3 feet, 1 by 10 feet, and the third by what was estimated to be less than 6 inches. This last one also dented the modified bomb-bay doors when the water splashed up by the first bounce hit the airplane. After this, they set a minimum release altitude of 15 feet. However, on 28 April, the test pilot inadvertently released the bomb at an altitude of approx. 9-10 feet flying over seas of approx. 3 feet. The bomb ricocheted off the face of a wave, struck just aft of the ventral turret and emerged in the vicinity of the tail surfaces. The tail then separated in a split second and the plane pitched forward and crashed.

That is summarized from the entry in Warbird Tech Vol. 22 - Douglas A-26 Invader by Frederick A. Johnsen. He sources several letters and reports, including the Final Report, Army Air Forces Board Project No. 4480C471.6.

Unfortunately, the book does not show a picture of the airplane sufficient to give it's serial number nor is it listed within the text.

From accident-report.com:

Which led to Baugher:

_________________

All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Thanks, even Arnie saw it coming before it happen. I think its the same a/c as the first clip shows it just missing and the 2nd one shows it finding the tail section...