P-51 Down, Vlado Lenoch gone west - July 2017

[Randy Wilson]

Just saw this news a bit ago and confirmation through CAF friends. Very sad news. Blue skies! Randy

[OD/NG]

Wow, I am shocked! Vlado was one of the "good guys" and probably one of the top experts in the world on flying the Mustang. Even though I never actually met him, I always felt I knew him through his words that he wrote on this forum and all the numerous articles I've read about him in various warbird magazines over the years.

I was hoping to meet him some day as he seemed like a really, nice guy who would go out of his way to help a fellow warbird fan.

Vlado gave a pilot friend of mine a ride in "Moonbeam" years ago and he said that was the most exciting, memorable and thrilling flight he had ever had in an aircraft.

Blue skies, Vlado, you will be missed!

Condolences to the family of Vlado and the young lady passenger with him.

[mazdaP5]

Gutted. He will be sorely missed.

[Pogo]

Sickened and heartbroken here.

[CJAM427]

Seeing him fly Moonbeam when I was very young is one of the main reasons I love the P-51 so much.

He will be sorely missed...

Blue skies Vlado
Heritage I by Connor Madison, on Flickr

[kalamazookid]

This is absolutely gut wrenching news. Vlado is and always will be a legend in my mind. He's been a part of airshows since I began attending them as a four-year old, and it's hard to imagine the warbird movement in the midwest without him.

I won't pretend to have known him other than short interactions at airshows over the years, but those made a big impression of the type of person he was. One of my favorite memories of him was at a small airshow in northern Indiana in the late-90s. I was maybe eight or nine years old at the time. My Dad and I were walking the flight line, and all of a sudden we see a blue-nosed P-51 taxying down towards us. Turns out it was Vlado, hanging out the side of the cockpit with his hair flying all over the place (a funny visual if you knew him). He parked right in front of us, so we started walking around and checking out the plane while Vlado was conversing with the ground marshals and airshow crew about whatever it is those people talk about. After he was done talking to them, he walked right up to us and asked us if we'd like to go up on the wing and check out the cockpit. We of course said yes, and he spent quite a bit of time pointing things out and showing us around the plane. I always thought that was really cool of him.

In my small interactions with him, he was always seemed to have time for everyone. I remember being at a small airshow in northern Michigan when I was older and seeing him interact with a young kid who was jabbering away at his mother about how excited he was about the P-51, but seemed too shy to talk to the pilot. Vlado took notice, came over and spent quite a bit of time talking with the kid and taking him around the plane. The enthusiasm with which he shared his plane was special. My Dad and I aren't really anybody when it comes to warbirds - neither of us have ever flown, restored, or worked on warbirds. We just show up and appreciate that there are people willing to share their warbirds with the public. But Vlado always seemed to remember us, or at least act like he did, and always said hi and made small talk about anything when we saw him. People like that always make an impression. And of course, we'll always have great memories of his aerobatic displays and low fly-by's.

Like I said, I won't pretend to know him in any way other than seeing him and interacting with him at airshows over the years. If those are any indication of the type of person he was, the world lost a wonderful human being in addition to an outstanding pilot. I can only imagine what those who knew him better must be feeling.

Condolence to his friends and family. You are in my thoughts.

[WIXerGreg]

Here's one from the other end of the photo quality spectrum from what everybody else is posting. Moonbeam is the first Mustang I can remember seeing fly in person.

I conversed with Vlado a few times here and he had given me a couple memorabilia items but I regret passing up the last opportunity at Thunder to introduce myself. He was with a group of people around Baby Duck, me not being socially outgoing and with him appearing busy, I walked away after a few minutes.

[CAPFlyer]

I'm still in shock. To echo those here and elsewhere, Vlado is already sorely missed. I will always be grateful for my interactions on here, Facebook and our two brief meetings in person. His advice to me helped me through several difficult times and probably kept me from having a lot of nightmares after witnessing Jim LeRoy's accident up close in 2007. He's probably the only reason I have been able to watch an active airshow since. This one's gonna hurt for a while.

[Chris Brame]

So sad to lose another member of the WIX family (as "mlenoch"; his last post was May 4th). Blue skies Vlado.

[Lynn Allen]

Such a loss, my deepest condolences to both families. Blue skies Valdo...

Last edited by Lynn Allen on Mon Jul 17, 2017 6:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[marine air]

Supernice guy and great pilot. The NTSB will find out what went wrong. Condolences to all the family members.

[Jesse C.]

Wow, what a sad day for the aviation world. My condolences to both their families, friends and the Aviation/Warbird Community.

Sad loss, again, for the WIX Family.

Vayan Con Dios

[Dan Johnson II]

The responses all over the web tell you all you need to know about what a good man he was.

I have to believe he's flying free now in a Mustang with correctly painted gear doors and all the free fuel he can burn, along with all the other folks who've gone on to the big airshow in the heavens.

[6trn4brn]

As so many of you have put, this is gonna hurt for a while. Mr Lenoch...sorry Vlado, I need to call you Mr Lenoch at a time like this...put Moonbeam through her paces at the Goshen or Elkhart Airshows a long, long time ago and I immediately fell in love with that plane. To have the chance to meet her caretaker/pilot was an extraordinary event for me. Down through the years, it has been so enjoyable to watch so many other people fall in love with warbirds when they have come in contact with great men like Mr Lenoch, Mr Odegarrd, Mr Leroy, Mr Baranaskas and the many other gentlemen and women whom we have lost. My heart is aching right now, so I should probably not be writing this until my heart and mind can fully grasp what a devastating loss this will be to our community.

[DaveM2]

I only ''knew" Vlado from his posts on here, but the memories told by the K-Kid above, certainly reinforce that he was indeed the kind of guy I assumed he was....

RIP to both lost in this tragedy