War Bird Crashes Over Long Island...

Robert Baranaskas was killed practicing for an Airshow in his P-40. His son usually flies Wing in a P-51
Very sad.

 

It is really sad to lose another pilot, any pilot, whether he is in a Cub or a WW2 airplane. I hate to say it but I think that after so many guys trying aerial maneuvers in these highly bred machines have lost their lives that maybe we should start soft pedaling it a bit and dispense with the combat maneuvers and stick to flybys. I've seen too many guys get into trouble because they either lack experience or get in over their heads by pushing the airplane to the edge of the envelope. These old WW2 birds are unforgiving and bite hard when the angle of attack and airspeed parameters are abused.

 

I am reluctantly going along with Mr. Parks on this 100%. I have lost two good friends either in an actual airshow or during airshow practice. I for one suppose that the low altitudes needed for a good show are considered necessary by the promotors, but I think they are dangerous for aerobatics in that there is just no room for error. These planes were not ever really designed to be flown in this manner. Most sickening to me among many was a Spitfire a few years back that just almost, but not quite, managed to pull out of a loop and flatcaked it right onto the belly at multiple Gs.

One other minor factor to be considered - aside from the obvious primary issue of loss of life - is that the planes themselves are becoming more and more scarce. I think it is lamentable that we seem to be throwing away 2 or more of them each season, along with their equally irreplaceable pilots.

 

Russ, you do like my mom always said, " You be careful and fly low and slow!".
Switches

 

This incident brought back a bunch of memories from 1942- 1944 when I saw many P-40's and P-51's stalled and spun in. Some went into violent whirling tumbles. It happens quick and decisively and probably would take 10,000 feet or more to recover, if you could. Those would be " Hot Rocks" too many times ended up in them. Pilots are irreplaceable, WW2 airplanes are irreplaceable, we should stop destroying them. One of the pilot's commandments, " Keep the power up and the nose low. Never the other way around." And , " Thou shalt maintain airspeed lest the earth arise and smite thee!" Trite but true.
Switches

 

Not to mention a lot of airframes that have already seen, several times over, their fair share of high G maneuvers at the hands of everything from young hotshot Aircorps pilots to Air racers. Those poor planes have been through a lot. Time to let them get old gracefully.

 

Have lost 12 friends to senseless aviation accidents in the past 25 years and never once was it caused by failure of the aircraft. Has always been the nut behind the screw. Most of them flying to low or doing low level acro. I'm here to tell you that when a long nose fighter gets its nose down the airspeed really builds up rapidly and it takes a whole bunch of altitude to get well. Bob Baranaskas was a great guy and an excellent pilot. How sad for his family.

 

Sorry to hear.

Make sure that kid of yours is careful.

 

Ya know Brian, the 'you can lead a horse to water but you cant make it drink' thingajiggy, well its true. I'm constantly beating him up with the 'be careful' stuff and he sees the list of our gone friends on the rt spade door but there still remains that 'it cant happen to me' attatude. Save your breath...none of them ever listened.

 

Yeah. " can't happen to me attitude.." I flew with one of those guys once.... and it did.... twice...and he finally caught on before his third warning.
When I was doing silly things in air shows and fly-ins back in the 60's and 70's my wife and I counted 33 fatalities in 10 years and they weren't young dumbheads...Art Scholl, Bud Fountain, Franklin,etc. I've had a bunch of friends like Sparky go away just flying but not using any sense and thinking that "it won't happen to me." Before I started my nonsense I had seen enough in the war here in the states to wake me up to realize that we ain't immortal. Geeze! I typed immoral before I knew it. I wonder if that's a Freudian slip.

 

R.I.P.........very sad.

 

Bob was one of my oldest friends. He gave me my first job out of college. We started Stratton Mountain Riders together, an adult snowboarding group essentially formed so we could take an instructor, him, and cut the lines. He was a terrific guy and loyal friend for over 30 years.
I flew with him many times. Never in one of his warbirds as I beleive rifledriver is absolutely right. Additionally he had crashed this plane once before, landing it in a potato farm in LI. Last July 4th at the Jones beach airshow he had to abort because he blew a gasket and oil sprayed all over the windshield. He popped the top and was trying to fly the plane with his head out the window when his helmet with microphone blew off. He did safely land the plane, which shows you his skill.
Contrary to published reports they have not found his body, his son told me they found his lung in the cockpit, but have not yet recovered it. I'm not discouraging the families wish to start their own recovery, but I have to beleive whatever remains there are are scattered all over the Atlantic by now. Any expert input is appreciated.
John

 

Very true, as others have noted here, these aircraft were designed to fight at altitude but low level aerobatics is something that these aircraft just weren't even intended to do. We all love to hear the song of a V12 and a big prop doing a low level pass, maybe best kept at that...

I also saw the GeeBee recreation at Oshkosh one year, doing all kinds of things that the airplane was never intened to do, scared the heck out of me.

 

John M,

Thanks for the post, and again I am very sorry to hear of the loss of your friend......

 

Thanks Tex.

 

I'm guessing Delmar Benjamin.
He did a show at the Arlington EAA show years ago that scared the hell out of me.
I think his saving grace was heavy throttle and a straight show line (although he was doing aileron rolls all the way).
Absolutely nuts to watch!

The Gee Bee reminds me of the adage, "Technically, a Bumble Bee can't fly but it does anyway"