A Bearcat bites the dust...

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pjc747
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A Bearcat bites the dust...

Post by pjc747 »

Sadly, a west Texas pilot crashed his Bearcat on takeoff, and died; he was 77. Its too bad that a rare Bearcat was lost, but that doesn't equal the life lost.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?secti ... id=8608539

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N990WY
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Re: A Bearcat bites the dust...

Post by N990WY »

That's very sad. Too bad there isn't a whole lot of Bearcats left; now there is only 9 flying.
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FSXF-Psycho
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Re: A Bearcat bites the dust...

Post by FSXF-Psycho »

Jesus...Howard Pardue. :cry:

This hurts about as bad as it did when Jimmy Leeward died last year in that horrible crash @ Reno.
Real Life: Airman First Class (E-3) 140th AMXS; Buckley AFB, CO
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CAPFlyer
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Re: A Bearcat bites the dust...

Post by CAPFlyer »

Howard was a larger than life figure for a good reason. Anyone in warbirds knew who he was without needing an introduction. The guy was one of the originals when it came to rescuing, restoring, and operating warbirds and helping to educate the public on their history. I never got the chance to go to one of the famous Breckenridge airshows he hosted, but the stories I've been told by some of the guys who were there are always awe inspiring to think of some of the famous people, famous aircraft, and historic things we may never see again that occurred because of him.

I've not found any pictures of the accident scene, but if there's enough left, I'm almost certain that Nelson will be rebuilding the XF8F-1 because that's what Howard would have wanted. He was not one to let a plane just get melted down and I think it'd be a fitting honor as Nelson was one of his closest friends and is the only guy Howard ever let work on his planes.
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thunderstreak
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Re: A Bearcat bites the dust...

Post by thunderstreak »

Man that sucks............

I met Howard Pardue in the 80's, he was flying his Corsair at the Hamilton Airshow.
I was just a kid then but he was happy to talk to me about his airplane!

Another great member of the warbird community lost :(
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Chad Graves
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Re: A Bearcat bites the dust...

Post by Chad Graves »

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

MAGGIEMAE
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Re: A Bearcat bites the dust...

Post by MAGGIEMAE »

CAPFlyer wrote:Howard was a larger than life figure for a good reason. Anyone in warbirds knew who he was without needing an introduction. The guy was one of the originals when it came to rescuing, restoring, and operating warbirds and helping to educate the public on their history. I never got the chance to go to one of the famous Breckenridge airshows he hosted, but the stories I've been told by some of the guys who were there are always awe inspiring to think of some of the famous people, famous aircraft, and historic things we may never see again that occurred because of him.

I've not found any pictures of the accident scene, but if there's enough left, I'm almost certain that Nelson will be rebuilding the XF8F-1 because that's what Howard would have wanted. He was not one to let a plane just get melted down and I think it'd be a fitting honor as Nelson was one of his closest friends and is the only guy Howard ever let work on his planes.

Won't be rebuilding this one totally destroyed ! I met Howard many times back in my Airshow flying days and he was always very supportive to the warbird and Air Racing communities. RIP Howard
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pjc747
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Re: A Bearcat bites the dust...

Post by pjc747 »

Last edited by pjc747 on 05 Apr 2012, 13:29, edited 1 time in total.

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Scott - A2A
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Re: A Bearcat bites the dust...

Post by Scott - A2A »

I'm not entirely comfortable with this discussion. Please be careful not to sensationalize this.
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MAGGIEMAE
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Re: A Bearcat bites the dust...

Post by MAGGIEMAE »

Scott - A2A wrote:I'm not entirely comfortable with this discussion. Please be careful not to sensationalize this.
Agreed
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CAPFlyer
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Re: A Bearcat bites the dust...

Post by CAPFlyer »

MAGGIEMAE wrote:Won't be rebuilding this one totally destroyed ! I met Howard many times back in my Airshow flying days and he was always very supportive to the warbird and Air Racing communities. RIP Howard
The only pic I've seen wasn't of the crash site, only part of the debris field and it's too early to talk beyond that. Additionally, you should see some of the aircraft Nelson's started with. If there's anything bigger than a dime-sized piece left, he can rebuild it.
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rwmarth
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Re: A Bearcat bites the dust...

Post by rwmarth »

I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I am of the opinion most of these warbirds shouldn't be flown any more as many are just too rare to lose, not to mention the horrific loss of life which often occurs as well.

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CAPFlyer
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Re: A Bearcat bites the dust...

Post by CAPFlyer »

rwmarth wrote:I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I am of the opinion most of these warbirds shouldn't be flown any more as many are just too rare to lose, not to mention the horrific loss of life which often occurs as well.
Define "often". There are far more lives lost in light aircraft per year than in warbirds. Yes, they are rare, but by hours flown, they are generally safer than any other segment of General Aviation. There have been more acrobatic act accidents in the past 5 years than warbird losses with fatalities.

Also, the risk of loosing a warbird on the ground is just as significant as loosing it in an accident while being flown. The reason I say this is that more "historic" aircraft have been lost over the years due to neglect, weather (tornado, flood, hurricane) and fire than have been lost in accidents. The largest single losses of warbirds at a single time were due to fire (Yankee Air Museum) and Hurricane/Flood (Battleship Memorial Park, Fantasy of Flight, and Lone Star Flight Museum) with over 50 aircraft destroyed or substantially damaged in those 4 events alone. In that same time period, about 10 flying warbirds have been similarly damaged or destroyed.
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Trumper
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Re: A Bearcat bites the dust...

Post by Trumper »

Alot of the aircraft would never have survived to see today had they not been made to fly.My condolences to the pilots family thats the most important.

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JoeS475
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Re: A Bearcat bites the dust...

Post by JoeS475 »

http://www.flyingmag.com/technique/acci ... -departure

Here's an update to this sad story... apparently Howard Pardue was attempting a Half Cuban 8 immediately after takeoff.

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