Warbird Information Exchange

I found these pictures of a T-6 landing at Aero Valley in the mid 80's after the side panel had come off in flight!

Anyone know about this incident?

What airplane was involved?

What happened to the pilots underwear?

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Zane Adams
There I was at 20,000 ft, upside down and out of ammunition.
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Hi Zane,

My only explanation is that:

a.) it was a really hot that day, or
b.) it was only a taxi test.

That's the best I can do, anyone else?

-David

There are a couple of braces for the side panel that secure it to the tubular on the right side. On the left side the step holds the side panel. This has happened a number of times...someone forgets to put those braces back on at an annual etc, and someday the airloads etc, might force the side panel off. It has happened before, in fact there is a picture floating around someplace of one of the Kate replicas as the side panel is coming off in flight.

Holy cr*p.... my mistake.

I sure would hate to have that happen to me. There's just a strange feeling you get when you can see through the side of your airplane without it being a window.

I imagine it wouldn't do too much to the flight characteristics of the plane, but darn would it increase the airflow to the cockpit section. haha.

Thank you for correcting me.

-David

His name is Dave Dodd. He hangared right across the runway from me back then at Aero Valley. Basically, he was up doing aerobatics and got the plane a bit sideways. As noted above, the right side panel is held on mainly by a brace or two and seems they were either not connected properly or broke. I found one of mine broken and had to replace it, but did not loose the panel.

The plane was ex-Spanish and arrived in a crate and he reassembled it and repainted it. We often flew together in support of CAF and other DFW-area shows and events. I think I even have a video shot out of his back seat when we did a big formation flight over downtown Dallas for a Cotton Bowl game or something similar in the mid 1980s. If I dig up a copy of that tape, I'll see if I can digitize a bit of it and post a link here.

Randy

I forgot that what Dave said was the most uncomfortable thing about this was on landing as he closed the throttle, the exhaust flame licked around onto his right foot on the rudder pedal and he had to keep pulling his foot back. Aero Valley was/is only 25-feet wide at best, so use of rudder with any crosswind was pretty necessary.

If you have ever flown a J-bird at night, looking out the right side of the cockpit at the exhaust flame, especially on landing, is very impressive. Fly safe.

Randy

Thanks Randy!

Gee whiz that must have been fun....


Speaking of you T-6....

I just ran across this in my stuff...Look familiar?

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Zane Adams
There I was at 20,000 ft, upside down and out of ammunition.
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Yep - that was my second SNJ, an SNJ-6 which had the gas guns in the wings and I added the bombs. I got to play like a fighter-bomber in some of the smaller shows and got to know and eventually fly with the Tora guys after some careful watching and practice. That really helped with I got into the FM-2 Wildcat and the A6M2 Zero.

Thanks for posting that and fly safe.

Oh, I found the VHS tape of the flight I mentioned above - turns out it was on 8 July 1984 over the Dallas Grand Prix. I think I leaned way out on landing back at Aero Valley and it gives a good idea of the runway there. I'll try and get something to share as soon as things at CAF HQ get a little less hectic with all the new folks, etc.

Randy

This also happended to John Dimmer out of Olympia in his SNJ-6 a few years back. He did a snap roll and the right panel peeled off. John said it got loud(er) and windy Other than that it flew pretty much normal

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Don't touch my junk!!

That photo was taken it Grand Prairie Municipal. Which reminds of something that happened there in the 80's. A Tora Zero (T-6) did a couple of test flights will all of the ring and accessory cowlings removed. I think they were trying to find an oil leak. It was an odd sight.

Patrick Mahaffey
B-17 "Chuckie" pilot/mechaninc
B-25 "Pacific Prowler" pilot/mechanic

I watched it happen to a UK based T6 a few years ago as well, that was all down to the brackets as well, although I cant now remember whether one was missing or had broken.

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P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.

S: Took hammer away from midget.

Just hope the panel don't go back and take out the horizontal. Our Kate lost its cowling ...one piece stayed on, one went to the ground, and one embedded itself in the leading edge. Old Larry number two in the back seat screamed loud enough we heard him on the ground two miles away when the one piece hit the canapy rail right next to him. Next thing he did was turn around to see if the tail was still there.(Two of the attach angles failed, check them good at annual or anytime you remove the cowling)

First annual we did on one of our T-6s found that all the braces were missing from the right hand side panel. Apparently had been flown that way for years, but we installed them when the panels went back on.

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South African's added 2 supports on the R/H side. 1st just aft of front seat on upright tube and 2nd just aft of rear instrument panel. Didn't fit very well and had welded nuts which were stripped as the heat softened the heat treat.
Rich