P-51 down in Norfolk - passenger killed?

[Potato Pete]

BBC and Guardian reporting it - Guardian have picture of P-51?

 

RIP

 

Pete

Edited October 2, 2016 by Potato Pete

[depressed lemur]

news report appears to suggest a two seat light aircraft. Pilot reported as killed, passenger in hospital. Very sad news.

[Graham T]

Very sad, I was in Snape, Suffolk, at lunchtime & saw this P-51 flying around.

[FalkeEins]

Maurice Hammond's P-51 'Janie' ...terrible news. Pic in the EDP

 

http://www.edp24.co.uk/home

[Phartycr0c]

Sad news. It is the 80 year old passenger who has sadly perished. It is indeed Janie. 

 

RIP and I hope the Injured Pilot makes a recovery

 

[bentwaters81tfw]

Sad news, Let's hope the pilot recovers. If it's Maurice, it would be a great loss if the worst happened.

[Mike]

That's sad... Hopefully the pilot and the airframe will make a recovery.  Poor old bloke though

[PhantomBigStu]

44 minutes ago, depressed lemur said:

news report appears to suggest a two seat light aircraft. Pilot reported as killed, passenger in hospital. Very sad news.

 

Was definitely a mustang, the  guardian posted a photo of the wreck, clearly P-51 'Janie' RIP To the passenger and hope the Pilot pulls through

[Julien]

Yes there is a pic in our local paper and its a Mustang. Sad loss on the passenger, hope the pilot pulls through.

[mungo1974]

Such sad news....

 

My thoughts are with all those involved at Hardwick..

Condolences to the loved ones of the passenger.

[Julien]

It would seem that Maurice Hammond was flying the aircraft. I hope he does recover.

 

Quote

Most of you will be aware there has been a serious incident involving Hardwick Airfield. I'd appreciate it if all our friends on here could help eliminate any speculation. The Hammond family have asked me to handle all media enquiries please contact me on 07778 963240 or [email protected] - tomorrow on 01508 530668. The Hammond family are with Maurice and he is being treated at NNUH. We offer our heartfelt condolences to the other party involved. Thanks everyone. Nik

 

[Simon Cornes]

Very sad news and I join everyone in hoping that Maurice Hammond recovers and that the aircraft can be repaired - relatively easy these days I would think. I wonder what caused the accident? And very sad that the passenger lost his life. At that age, maybe he was a veteran? Strange but if so then maybe he would have been happy to go that way, if you see what I mean? Still, terrible for his family of course.

[noelh]

Bad news. Lost a few friends in crashes over the years. You never get used to the sick feeling or the funerals however dignified they are. RIP.

Edited October 2, 2016 by noelh

[F4u]

Sad news indeed my condolences to the passengers family and I wish a speedy recovery to Maurice.

RIP

 

Guy

Edited October 3, 2016 by F4u

[Paul Bradley]

Very sad news indeed.

 

Given the knee-jerk reactions of some parties in the press, one hopes this doesn't affect the ability of warbirds to take passengers in the future.

[bzn20]

That's sad. A Mustang has been coming over quite often, I wondered where it came from. Saw it last week,Thursday or Friday I think. Hardwick  is about 25 miles from here. I didn't know anything about the airfield there. I saw a mention of another WW2 fighter there aswell this morning. Is it a Spitfire? I keep seeing one flying over the sea front at Lowestoft. I just checked Hardwick airfield on Google maps. I can't see much in the way of a shed big enough for a plane .

Really sad for the old man on a trip of a lifetime ,so sad. Hope the pilot pulls through.

Having seen the wreckage I won't be seeing that in the sky again.

RIP

[bentwaters81tfw]

1 hour ago, bzn20 said:

That's sad. A Mustang has been coming over quite often, I wondered where it came from. Saw it last week,Thursday or Friday I think. Hardwick  is about 25 miles from here. I didn't know anything about the airfield there. I saw a mention of another WW2 fighter there aswell this morning. Is it a Spitfire? I keep seeing one flying over the sea front at Lowestoft. I just checked Hardwick airfield on Google maps. I can't see much in the way of a shed big enough for a plane .

Really sad for the old man on a trip of a lifetime ,so sad. Hope the pilot pulls through.

Having seen the wreckage I won't be seeing that in the sky again.

RIP

Maurice has 2 Mustangs and a Harvard there. Providing he recovers sufficiently, he will rebuild Janie. His second machine, Marinell, came as  a pile of wreckage from a French orchard. He also rebuilds Merlins. The four for 'Just Jane' were all rebuilt by Maurice. 

[bzn20]

Thanks for that info, didn't know about them. It wont fly again. Gone right off the scale of stress, probably G, heat treatment and anything else you can measure, most of the important bit ,C section will be L59 spec. I would think

[bentwaters81tfw]

Data plate rebuild - watch this space.

[Vickers McFunbus]

6 hours ago, bzn20 said:

 I just checked Hardwick airfield on Google maps. I can't see much in the way of a shed big enough for a plane .

Really sad for the old man on a trip of a lifetime ,so sad. Hope the pilot pulls through.

0

 

The same thing used to confuse me. Hardwick airfield isn't on the old disused Hardwick airfield, but a few hundred yards East, an E-W grass strip. A far bigger hangar!

 

As for rebuilding - far too early to say, but it is fair to say far worse off airframes have been restored and fly in the UK. Soon there'll be at least 3 Spitfires that have been involved in fatal accidents (within the past 20 years) and then rebuilt airworthy in the UK (RW382, PL983 and PV202).

Edited October 3, 2016 by Vickers McFunbus

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

Meier Motors in Germany are tooled up to make pretty much any components for a P-51. If Mr Hammond has the appetite and ability after this, Janie will be rebuilt to fly.

[bzn20]

Thanks for the map info...On the repair of the Mustang ..It will be an almost brand new thing with more than 50% original airframe missing. Depends on the definition of % of plane left serviceable to be able to give it the same serial No.

[bentwaters81tfw]

If you had seen the state of 'Marinell' after languishing in that orchard for close on 60 years, I have no doubt Janie will fly again. Whether Maurice rebuilds it, or it goes to a new owner, odds on she will fly again. Just look at the ARCo Mk1 Spitfires. Both dataplate rebuilds after 60+ years in the sea.

[bzn20]

Rear fuse (bet that's bent, over stressed) attached to a new build. Then the rear fuse is replaced  and fitted to the new front end.

Kings new clothes...Or Trigger's had the same  broom for 20 years...  14 handles and 17 heads.

Edited October 4, 2016 by bzn20

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

It matters not a jot in the world of vintage aircraft. Provided it has an identity, that's all that matters really. The desire to own and fly one is so strong that someone will pay strong money whether it's been rebuilt or not. Sure, completely original examples might fetch even more with the right buyer, but a completely rebuilt Mustang is still a Mustang. It looks, smells and feels like a Mustang and goes like a Mustang. You know what they say about ducks ... 

 

It's much the same with extremely rare cars. Nobody wants a rebuilt Cat C writeoff BMW 3-series because there are millions of the things. Any car collector would pay through the nose for the only Jaguar XJ13 in existence despite it having been virtually destroyed in a massive crash and completely rebuilt since.