Bad Day At Reno

[Jack Cook]

Anyone remember this??
Excellent flying by Jerry McDonald!

[n5151ts]

the year before Ralph borrowed my flight helmet for the races as his was "in transit"

[Lynn Allen]

One lost and one lucky...

Lynn

[Neal Nurmi]

I stilll miss Ralph, even after all these years. Spent a lot of time with him and his family over the years, and enjoyed it all...

[Randy Haskin]

This is the only crash at Reno that I watched happen real time.

[valdez25]

Ralph?

[JohnH]

Ralph Twombly, veteran race pilot and father of Mark Twombly, AOPA magazine editor.

John

[retroaviation]

Yup. I was on Gene McNeely's crew at the time and he was in that race. It was a difficult thing to watch, but I agree with Jack 100%...the flying done by Jerry to get his ship on the ground safely was nothing short of amazing! He told me that the airplane was starting to roll on him and wouldn't respond to his counter actions until the left aileron actually broke off (just a second or two later, mind you), but once it was gone, he was able to regain control of the airplane.

Scary stuff.

Gary

[Scotty G]

That was such a terrible day up there.

[Taylor Stevenson]

midair?

[retroaviation]

Yup.

[Jack Cook]

I wish I'd have stayed home that year!

[51fixer]

I wish I'd have stayed home that year!

I know the feeling! I crewed the Pond Racer when Rick was lost.
Drove the van with the tow bar still attached from the ramp out to the wreckage. Walked the debris field w/ Rutan and the NTSB.
It's still a bad, bad memory.
Rich

[Roger Cain]

Anyone remember this??
Excellent flying by Jerry McDonald!

Yes, unfortunately I do, as I unintentionally ended up with pictures I did not expect. The air race fans at the house off of pylon 8 were also very fortunate. A sad day indeed.

[Hal B]

That was such a terrible day up there.

Sorry to say there has been a few of those