Brad wrote:
Nobody had more than a few hours in the P-82 at the time, including Lefty and the 10hrs total time is wrong. Even though the airplane was owned by the CAF for many years, it probably flew for less than 40 hours total. All that time was split up among 6 or 8 people that had flown it. It spent much of its time, prior to the crash, being worked on and waiting for money to do it. There were very few sponsors on the airplane and a couple of them moved their money over to other projects when progress was so slow.
Lefty was not in the airplane at the time of the accident. Ed Messick was in the left seat and Harry Tope was in the right one, on his first flight in the airplane but he was just along for the ride. They were doing some film work for the BBC. The airplane had a problem with the right prop regulator leaking. On Friday before the accident, Lefty Gardner and Bill Popejoy were flying and came back with the right prop feathered. On Saturday, the plane came back with the right prop feathered. At that point, it was grounded. The maintenance guys had a meeting with Lefty and after some other work, released the airplane to fly. Ed was given instructions by Herb Puckett to fly for no longer than 30 minutes so they could keep an eye on the prop.
I've got all the CAF's files on the P-82 somewhere. I'll try to dig it all out. I've got the witness statements, investigator reports, insurance paperwork and such, including the letter that Ed Messick sent to the CAF General Staff, promising to pay for the restoration. Yes, Ed did stall the airplane and yes there were two different calibrations on the airspeed indicators. Harry Tope later died in a P-51 crash and Ed Messick murdered his wife and then committed suicide in 2002.
Thanks for the info. I remember it coming back with the engine feathered. Thought they got it fixed.
I did not think Lefty was in the plane. I seem to remember he was in his P-38 behind the F-82 when it pranged resulting in Lefty doing a go around. I could be wrong.
I did not know about Ed and his wife, very sad.