Corsair crash

Yes he did. It ends up the ex-Silberman -4 was not as “built to spec” as was popularly thought. On the Corsair, all of the aft fuselage skins are all fashioned with some degree of a compound curve to them. Each has to be worked and manipulated to form the flowing, slightly rounded shape of the rear fuselage. The aft fuselage on the ex-Silberman restoration was basically build from standard aluminum sheet layed out and cut to fit. The current restoration specialist in charge of these planes jokingly likened the cross section of the rear fuselage to that of a “stop sign” (which in the US are octagonal). It’s nowhere near factory spec.

The revolutionary main spar rebuild also ended up being a not so spectacular piece of workmanship. Though apparently signed off by the FAA, two different restoration specialists in the US who’ve been intimate with the plane since it left Florida say its completely non-airworthy (or at least nothing they would fly).

As such, this project plane will be harvested of parts to support the restoration of the ex-Pardue, and ex-CFM F4U-4 Corsairs, then what remains is scheduled to be donated to the Vought Heritage Museum to serve as the basis of a static display aircraft.

Both of those planes are owned by the same person now and they are being restored (one at a time) in Texas. The former HP Corsair should fly by the end of next year.

Didn’t the same guy also buy the ex-Silberman dash 4 on rebuild in Florida as a source of parts?

T J

Laird Doctor is as Berger and Boyle have posted here. He is not been married to Linda Finch since the litigation has come to a conclusion. What happened to the people, planes, and the lives of those involved in the accident is very, very sad.

The CFM Corsair is in the same basic condition as the Howard Pardue F4U-4 crash. Both of those planes are owned by the same person now and they are being restored (one at a time) in Texas. The former HP Corsair should fly by the end of next year.

The whole Eldridge episode ended happily enought, he lived and still flies, but we are down one amazing Corsair with the loss of the Super Corsair, she was a beast and fun to watch….however, things have’nt gone as well for Lad Doctor who underwent treatment here in Denver at a hospital that is supposed to specialize in spinal cord injuries, I believe he is still paralyzed and of course the Corsair is a disaster…but I’m sure someone somewhere, if they have’nt already, will endeavour to rebuild it at some point. Howard’s Bearcat, after a few glitches, is back up and flying and I have to agree with what someone said above, whoever was piloting Jim Read’s dash 5 that day did a HELLUVA job avoiding the accident and still only doing minimal damage to the plane itself…she’s still with us and VERY active.

Mark

‘Ladd’ Doctor was not so fortunate – he broke his neck too but was left a Quadriplegic after the Oshkosh crash. 🙁 I seem to recall they where hoping it might have just been bruising to the spinal chord and that he would make a recovery eventually but I haven’t heard any more on his condition.

Sorry to say I only have bad news…mutual friends in Texas report as of a few months ago he was still in bad shape…I don’t have specifics about paralysis though.

BTW: His wife is the woman who retraced Earhart’s route in a similar Lockheed a few years back.

Thanks for the details. It was horrific to watch both crashes. Kevin Eldridge’s Corsair was like a comet, it had a huge streakof flames trainling behind.

I hope the seriously injured pilot at Oshkosh has made some sort of recovery, and I hope the air traffic controller got what was coming to him.

I saw the footage of the POF Super Corsair the other week on some programme call “Sports Disasters” on the satellite channel Bravo. I think Kevin Eldrige did sustain some nasty injuries (I believe he struck the tailplane and Broke his neck and a few other bones) but thankfully made a full recovery.

‘Ladd’ Doctor was not so fortunate – he broke his neck too but was left a Quadriplegic after the Oshkosh crash. 🙁 I seem to recall they where hoping it might have just been bruising to the spinal chord and that he would make a recovery eventually but I haven’t heard any more on his condition.

Anyone know how he is?

Cheers

Paul

… Some small trinkets of the super Corsair are still with us though……….

Here’s the rudder – in the Planes of Fame collection
Nearby are some remains of Red Baron (that weren’t needed when it was restored to fly again!)

Tony Andrews

Kevin Eldridge was injured in the bail out- he hit the tailplane on the way out but is still flying historic aircraft.

As i recall the planes of fame guys bulldosed the wreckage into a big hole and had a BBQ party on the site.

Some small trinkets of the super Corsair are still with us though……….

Same thoughts occured to me. Some date or time scale reference should suffice to kill the alarm bells.

Sorry for the fright Rocketeer, but since I didn’t know where or when or any details of the crashes, what else can I put? I see what you mean though

Chaps, when we start a thread such as this, please can we put a more sensible title up to save heart tremors/palpitations happening…picture the scene, Rocketeer gets out of the shower, looks forward to another Canadian Groundhog Day, logs on and reads the title 😮
Seriously, a better title would be ‘Details of old Corsair Crash’ thanks y’all 🙂

Thanks for the details. It was horrific to watch both crashes. Kevin Eldridge’s Corsair was like a comet, it had a huge streakof flames trainling behind.

I hope the seriously injured pilot at Oshkosh has made some sort of recovery, and I hope the air traffic controller got what was coming to him.

I wasn’t actually an air traffic control issue – There was some acrimony over the incident so best not to go there. A factual summary is on the WRG page

Warbirds Resource Group F4U Bu97280

Tony Andrews

Thanks for the details. It was horrific to watch both crashes. Kevin Eldridge’s Corsair was like a comet, it had a huge streakof flames trainling behind.

I hope the seriously injured pilot at Oshkosh has made some sort of recovery, and I hope the air traffic controller got what was coming to him.

I think it was at the Phoenix Air Race in Arizona. PoF Super Corsair.

Yes – that is correct for the Kevin Eldridge accident. The Super Corsair suffered a catastrophic engine problm during the race and he bailed out over a car company’s test circuit.

The other accident referred to involving the 2 Corsairs and 2 Bearcats at Oshkosh occurred when the Corsairs started their roll while the Bearcats in front were still stationary. The main casualty was the Cavanaugh Flight Museum Corsair which hit Howard Pardue’s Bearcat during its take-off roll. The Corsair crashed off the runway on fire seriously injuring the pilot an virtually destroying the aircraft (although it’s under rebuild!). Howard’s Bearcat was seriously damaged but was rebuilt. Tom Woods Bearcat wasn’t affected. Jim Reid manoeuvred his Corsair onto the grass to avoid the collision which I though was a great piece of skill. The aircraft was slightly damaged due to bumping over the rough terrain.

Tony Andrews

I think it was at the Phoenix Air Race in Arizona. PoF Super Corsair.

Yes, it was:

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/corsairregistry/f4u-97280.html

I remember also seeing a firey crash of two Corsairs on the news some years ago when two Corsairs and two Hellcats were taking off at a US airshow, and they touched wings or something. Has anyone more details – pilots, place, date. Was anyone killed or hurt? Are the planes being rebuilt?

Oshkosh, Dave, and it was two Bearcats and two Corsairs. Have a look here.

http://www.aafo.com/racing/news/99/07-31-99.htm

Think the Corsair was destroyed.