![]() "I guess he didn't see he was too close," Meziere said. Meziere explained that P-51s have limited forward visibility when landing. "There was definitely a big fireball," said Walt Meziere of Texas, who saw the crash. Witnesses said the pilot of the plane that ended up on its nose was able to walk away from his plane and first ran toward the burning plane before turning back and then falling to his knees. After flipping upside down, witnesses said, the plane burst into flames. Witnesses said the second plane may have tried to swerve, but ended up flipping over the lead plane to finally land upside in the grass to the east of the runway. Other witnesses said the trailing plane landed, but its propeller clipped the tail of the lead plane, pushing it on to its nose. He said at first, it looked like the second plane would overshoot the first. Morris, Ill., who also witnessed the crash, the second P-51 was coming in faster than the lead airplane. "I could see it happening before it started."Īccording to Howell Herman, of Mt. Authorities have not released the identities of either pilot.Ĭhuck Chall, of Brighton, Mich., saw the crash, and said in formation landings, the second plane should land first, but that in this case, the lead plane had already landed. The EAA confirmed that one pilot was killed and the other had unspecified injuries. ![]() The crash occurred as the airplanes were landing in formation about 3:15 p.m. The two warbirds were flying at the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture as part of the Reno Racers in the Showcase flights, which is about an hour-long performance before the main air show starts. The pilot of a P-51 Mustang died Friday in a fiery crash with another P-51 as the airplanes were landing on the north-south runway at Wittman Regional Airport. This was taken minutes before.Ĭlick here for video: One dead in Warbirds crash on runway It is really tragic as the pilots were a father-son team. Officials with EAA postponed the day's airshow performances until 1700 CDT.ĪNN will update the story as more information becomes available. Identities and conditions of the pilots involved have not been confirmed. The aircraft already on the ground came to rest on its nose approximately 50 yards down the runway the aircraft above rolled over, and impacted the ground inverted. It appears the right wing of the aircraft still in the air clipped the left rear horizontal stablizer of the first as it came alongside. Officials have not released the identities of the pilots involved.ġ835 EDT - ANN has confirmed two P-51s returning to land from a simulated air race performance at Oshkosh AirVenture 2007 are down near the end of runway 36 at Wittman Field.įootage of the accident obtained by ANN shows both aircraft coming in for landing on 36 at approximately 1500 CDT, with the lead aircraft rolling on the runway and a second on station to the left rear, approximately 20 feet off the ground. One Confirmed Lost In P-51 Accident Following OSH Air Race PerformanceĪNN REALTIME UPDATE 07.27.07 1850 EDT: Federal Aviation Administration personnel confirm one person was killed in a landing accident at Wittman Field, as both planes were coming in to land Friday afternoon following an air race demonstration at AirVenture 2007.
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