canberraman Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 It's been reported on UKAR that P-51 Mustang "Big Beautiful Doll" has crashed at Legends, after a mid-air collision with the French Skyraider. The P-51 pilot fortunately bailed out and is OK. The Skyraider, missing a large chunk of it's right wing, made an emergency landing, again without injury to the pilot. More to follow I expect. Teriible news but at least the crews are safe, that's what matter most. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c.smith10 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 It's been reported on UKAR that P-51 Mustang "Big Beautiful Doll" has crashed at Legends, after a mid-air collision with the French Skyraider. The P-51 pilot fortunately bailed out and is OK. The Skyraider, missing a large chunk of it's right wing, made an emergency landing, again without injury to the pilot. More to follow I expect.Teriible news but at least the crews are safe, that's what matter most. Mark what? that must have been after the mass fly past at the end of the show, we left just before the second fly past and had the skyraider fly over our car as we travelled home!! just glad both crews are ok! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpowder17 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 (edited) Ditto , glad they are both OK. Edited July 10, 2011 by gunpowder17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzy Jase Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 It happened after the second group split into groups of three. The Sky Raider, P51 and another aircraft did their "break" and the two touched. I was facing the other way at the time and didn't see the colision but as I turned around I saw the Mustang in trouble and something falling from the sky. Next thing there's a parachute and a missing mustang. Very glad no one was hurt but sad at the loss of Big Beautiful Doll. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c.smith10 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 from the airshow review message board! Those old spads really are strong birds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shar2 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Bloomin' heck, that is a big chunk of wing missing off the Skyraider. Real shame about BBD, but glad to hear the pilot got out ok. When was the last successful bail out of a warbird in this country? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbuna Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Everyone went unscathed which is the most important consideration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darius at Home Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Wow - not a good few weeks for warbirds with the Mitchell and B17 destroyed, the Seafire 17 with a wheels up landing and the Old Warden Jungman out of action. Glad both pilots are OK!!! Darius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c.smith10 Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Wow - not a good few weeks for warbirds with the Mitchell and B17 destroyed, the Seafire 17 with a wheels up landing and the Old Warden Jungman out of action. Glad both pilots are OK!!!Darius which Mitchell was that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Ogilvie Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Very sad news - great to hear both pilots alive and safe. Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiffy Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Just got back from Legends. The collision occured after the second Balbo pass. They'd broken into their 3 ship and were doing their break pass. This is when it happened. A huge chunk of the wing could be seen falling off the Skyraider. The pilot of the Mustang steaded the a/c, popped the canopy and bailed out. A parachute appeared to open, from our position, just before he hit the deck and the P-51 dissapeared behind the trees at the end of the airfield. It was quite a tense time. The commentators obviously weren't saying anything until they knew the fate of the pilot. When they announced that he'd landed in a field and walked away, the were huge cheers and applause from the crowd. It was reported that he made one of the quickest emergancy exits ever seen. The Spad seemed to make quite a normal landing. I think the pair of them ought to be buying some lottery tickets. They were both bloody lucky. I've got some pics to go through, but I think it's safe to assume that the A-1 has now become the most photographed Skyraider ever. Sad though to have lost BBD. She's always been one of my favourites, by it could have been much worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzy Jase Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Best I can manage for photos. Brain stopped working during the incident. IMG_0729 by Jazzy Jase, on Flickr IMG_0737 by Jazzy Jase, on Flickr IMG_0740 by Jazzy Jase, on Flickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 WOW! that Skyraider was lucky! Glad both pilots got down safe. Shaun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave T Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 which Mitchell was that? This one in France... http://forum.scramble.nl/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=74719 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julien Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 This one in France... Bugger, never saw that! Julien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c.smith10 Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 armature video of the crash here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 I was there on the Saturday so missed this drama. But there were two incidents that little has been made of due to no losses. The German registered Buchon undercarriage popped open during his routine and managed to recycle it safely and finish the routine by landing safely. A bit later, the Curtiss Hawk 75 had undercarriage problems. The RN Sea Fury went up to look him over. I was with an old friend I met there and he listened in on airband radio relating this to me. Warning lights on the Hawk lit up and from the ground I could see his wheels were down. Eventually he landed safely and appeared to be towed off the landing area. Don't know of any subsequent actions. I presume he did not fly Sunday? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Séan Pádraig Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Didn't BBD crash in Berlin a few years back... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Horrible... such a waste of a beautiful old aircraft, but not ot pilots thankfully Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T0M4ever Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 (edited) Video up on the BBC site now: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-14106730 Edited July 11, 2011 by T0M4ever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Didn't BBD crash in Berlin a few years back... No. THis BBD was the ex Rob davies one that lived over here at Woodchurch in Kent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiffy Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Close up video HERE and BBC report HERE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c.smith10 Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 what comes off the stang? from that video it doesn't look like there is much damage done by the collision. pilot bailed out rather close to the ground, i bet he needed a change of underwear after that one! Any opinions on what went wrong? looks to me like the raider was banking harder and faster that BBD or BBD was banking to slow and shallow?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazdot Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 what comes off the stang? from that video it doesn't look like there is much damage done by the collision. pilot bailed out rather close to the ground, i bet he needed a change of underwear after that one! Any opinions on what went wrong? looks to me like the raider was banking harder and faster that BBD or BBD was banking to slow and shallow?? From a pic I saw the spad hit the rad outlet on the rear underside fuselage looks like it may have been about to fold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiffy Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 what comes off the stang? Well just after the collision, it looks to be the canopy being jettisoned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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