The wing fell off

It’s a shame what happened, but at the same time it’s a shame how the misguided actions of a guy (who didn’t do anything stupider than what a few thousand other guys have done over the last century…some of which got away with it, some who didn’t) have provided a bunch of internet voyeurs (most of which couldn’t fly if they wanted to…and wouldn’t have the nerve to be a military pilot) an opportunity to stress their smug superiority.
Yes, what he did was wrong…a terrible lack of judgement that others…his crew and their families paid a terrible price for. But he too paid a price, as did his family I’m I’m not sure being the object of continued internet scorn is terribly productive.
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Having read the report many years ago and the way they use this as a teaching tool of how things go wrong,the attitude and arrogance of the pilot is a bit more than “misguided”.Any other walk of life and it would be manslaughter/murder.
Have a read of this ,it is horrifying http://sbfpd.org/uploads/3/0/9/6/3096011/darker_shades_of_blue.pdf

“”What’s the deal with this guy?” Captain Bill Kramer asked, indicating a car conspicuously
parked in the center of the red-curbed “No Parking” zone adjacent to the wing headquarters
building. It was a short walk from the HQ building, commonly referred to as The White House,
to the parking lot where they had left their own vehicles while attending the briefing on the
upcoming airshow. As they passed the illegally-parked car and then the various “reserved”
spaces for the wing and operations group commanders, Lt Col Winslow turned to Captain
Kramer, and replied, “That’s Bud’s car. He always parks there.” After a few more steps the
Captain inquired, “How does he get away with that?” The Lieutenant Colonel reflected for a
moment and responded, “I don’t know–he just does.”

It’s a shame what happened, but at the same time it’s a shame how the misguided actions of a guy (who didn’t do anything stupider than what a few thousand other guys have done over the last century…some of which got away with it, some who didn’t) have provided a bunch of internet voyeurs (most of which couldn’t fly if they wanted to…and wouldn’t have the nerve to be a military pilot) an opportunity to stress their smug superiority.
Yes, what he did was wrong…a terrible lack of judgement that others…his crew and their families paid a terrible price for. But he too paid a price, as did his family I’m I’m not sure being the object of continued internet scorn is terribly productive.

The enquiry into the crash revealed that he had a long history of reckless flying and that a number of people would not fly with him – as I read the findings they are not just critical of Col. Holland but of the system that allowed him to keep flying despite his record. That isn’t smug superiority, that is simply reading the report. Personally I see it as a tragedy for the crew and their families that was avoidable.

What Bud Holland did wasn’t just a one time mistake or miscalculation, so your comparisons just don’t make any sense. He had a long history of unsafe flying and violating several ACC regulations, technical order guidance (T.O. 1B-52G-1-11) as well as FAR Part 91. This was videotaped on many occasions including the Fairchild AFB airshows in 1991, 1992, and 1993 as well as the change of command flyover at Fairchild in 1991, the Global Power mission off Guam in 1993, and on the Yakima bombing range in 1994. Besides himself he killed 2 Lt. Colonels and a Colonel who was supposed to be on his last ever flight on a bomber, and whose family was there watching the practice. Those men were only onboard in order to keep their subordinates from having to fly with Lt. Col. Holland because they knew he was unsafe and that command had repeatedly refused to discipline him.

Again, I’ll refer to the Mossie pilot in Canada. No need to repeatedly buzz the tower low enough to lose a wing. Combat pilots in WWI figured they already had afoot in the grave, so doing stupid stunts probably made some sense to them.
The Mossie pilot celebrated surviving the war by killing his nav and himself (and almost a fitter) while on a war bond tour. I’m not sure that’s any more noble…
And I won’t even try to guess how many VC (or Medal of Honor, or Iron Cross) winners made decisions that doomed their crews. At the end of the day, the reasons or justification of the aircraft commander doesn’t lessen the fact that the crew is dead. But I don’t think you’d call a VC winner a psychopath.

This afternoon, I was at the base where the B-52 crashed, in fact I was within a half mile of the site. My nephew asked me to preside at his promotion ceremony to first lieutenant. Every time I visit the base I recall that crash…and the others at that base.

It’s a shame what happened, but at the same time it’s a shame how the misguided actions of a guy (who didn’t do anything stupider than what a few thousand other guys have done over the last century…some of which got away with it, some who didn’t) have provided a bunch of internet voyeurs (most of which couldn’t fly if they wanted to…and wouldn’t have the nerve to be a military pilot) an opportunity to stress their smug superiority.
Yes, what he did was wrong…a terrible lack of judgement that others…his crew and their families paid a terrible price for. But he too paid a price, as did his family I’m I’m not sure being the object of continued internet scorn is terribly productive.

His judgement was bad, which is the same if a pilot pushed IFR landing minimums, or waited a second too long to pull out of a dive at an air show. Despite some those crashes being caught on video, those pilots haven’t become an object of scorn.

After all, all of them would have been just as dead if the nav, a mechanic or ATC controller…or some private pilot blundered into their flight path.

When you put on a uniform…or strap into an aircraft…there is no guarantee of safety.

Reading about this chap’s various attempts at killing his friends I suspect that the squadron was glad to see him go. Reminds me very much of that USAF Colonel who crashed that B52 some years back

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Fairchild_Air_Force_Base_B-52_crash

he was notorious for these sorts of dangerous stunts. If people want to kill themselves in spectacular ways then it’s probably their free choice but taking others with them against their will is just a little over the top IMHO.

Many other gallant airmen killed themselves ‘stunting’ but weren’t out to take their mates with them. John

Read last month’s FlyPast piece on the Mosquito in Canada….the pilot almost took two men with him instead of one.
At any rate, I’m not sure his silly stunting fits the definition of “psychopath” that you applied to him.

Many other gallant airmen killed themselves ‘stunting’ but weren’t out to take their mates with them. Of interest, other Vee strut sesquiplanes such as the early Albatros D.III which copied the Nieuport layout, also suffered from the lower wing twisting and breaking up. Edward Mannock was another pilot to survive losing a wing in a Nieuport.

The reason for the weakness is that early in it’s development the Nieuport lower wing had been intended to be variable incidence and the end of the vee strut was a circular collar around the single spar and in a dive the outer portion of the wing could twist.

John

Courtney sounds like a psychopath waiting for the inevitable to happen.
John

No more so than many WWI aviators, men who volunteered to fly knowing their lives would be measured in weeks, or months at best.

Or the great Neil Williams who when the wing of his Zlin folded up in flight, he rolled it against the fold, flew down inverted and at the last moment rolled again against the fold and belly landed. Courtney sounds like a psychopath waiting for the inevitable to happen.

John

I daresay if many other airmen had done the same [kept it straight] many more lives may have been saved.

…Charles Church with his new build Mk V Spitfire comes to mind……. ( had the circumstances allowed ?)

The date of incident is quoted as 7th July 1917 in “The Lafayette Flying Corps: The American Volunteers in the French Air Service in World War One” by Dennis Gordon

He was killed in Action 1st Oct 1917 (at least one web site quotes “30 September 1917”) but all other sources say 1st Oct 1917

Fullname Andrew Courtney Courtney, Jr.

And it is quoted as being Nieuport 23 N3578

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=AQGZt_db0doC&pg=PA79&lpg=PA79&dq=Nieuport+23+N3578&source=bl&ots=otkEmQVORp&sig=9htppaSHo7P-StsQgRASMFJMybE&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Nieuport%2023%20N3578&f=false

An ambulance was prepared for the inevitable fatal crash, but Courtney was leading a charmed life. He avoided attempting to land at the aerodrome, as most other pilots instinctively would have done. It was a smart move since the turns required to circle down to the field would have meant losing speed at every turn. Instead, he glided straight ahead which resulted in a safe landing in a turnip field ten kilometers from the aerodrome. To land safely having lost so much of one’s wing was a unique, albeit dubious accomplishment.

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I daresay if many other airmen had done the same [kept it straight] many more lives may have been saved.

Andrew Courtney Campbell was killed in action in Oct 1917

By which side ??
If he put his wheels through my top wing I would have been sorely tempted 😀
Although it was his own fault – he did do extremely well to land the a/c – as the LH wing would have had little structural strength remaining after the lower wing departed,the Nieuport’s were known to be slightly structurally weak in the mainplane department.

Reminds me of the Israeli F15 that lost a complete wing and landed safely.

Andrew Courtney Campbell was killed in action in Oct 1917

This guy was lucky, but didn’t exactly have a distinguished flying career. From the book “The Lafayette Escadrille” by Narayan Sengupta:

Chicago native Courtney Campbell joined the Escadrille on April 15. He thought himself the comedian of the unit, but the truth was that he was a terrible danger to himself and others. The Escadrille should have booted him from the unit, but for some reason it did not.

History fails to record the exact date, but at some time while the Escadrille was in Chaudin, Courtney Campbell took off in his Nieuport 17 and threw it into a series of hard loops right over the airfield in plain view of his mates and everyone else who happened to be around. He came out of each loop aiming his plane at the hangars. He probably thought that it was rather funny to do so. With each loop, he climbed and pushed the Nieuport harder and harder. Finally, on the fourth loop the strained Nieuport lost its lower left wing at the point where it had met the fuselage. An ambulance was prepared for the inevitable fatal crash, but Courtney was leading a charmed life. He avoided attempting to land at the aerodrome, as most other pilots instinctively would have done. It was a smart move since the turns required to circle down to the field would have meant losing speed at every turn. Instead, he glided straight ahead which resulted in a safe landing in a turnip field ten kilometers from the aerodrome. To land safely having lost so much of one’s wing was a unique, albeit dubious accomplishment.

On June 15, Campbell decided to play games with Ted Parsons by riding his own plane practically right on top of Parson’s tail while the two were flying around. Parsons was unable to shake him, but the two made it back safely. In various other incidents, Campbell would later cause a collision between himself and another plane, destroying both, and then almost kill Arnoux de Maison-Rouge by punching his wheels into Arnoux’s top wing while the two were flying together. Campbell finally managed to extricate his plane from Arnoux’s wing and then landed safely though Arnoux was thoroughly shaken.

Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter? 😛

Talk about the luck of the Devil!