That was a bad week in time. Within the span of a week my father lost the Blue Max when Marshall Moss crashed at Brown Field on Sunday (taking another life in the jump seat) and then the following Saturday dad put the Mk. IX on it's nose. He was landing to the left of a Wildcat just forward of him and got pushed off to the side by a crosswind. In retrospect we discussed how non-centerline landings in close-coupled taildraggers was a bad idea.
I was sitting next to Price under a Mitchell Wing SunShade when that happened. I said he probably didn't want to see that happen and he just shrugged. After all, he had put the Mk. XIV on it's nose in Nebraska when he and my father were on their way to Oshkosh a couple of years prior.
You can see Gordy on the tug, Craig Charleston on the wingtip and my father in the cockpit. It was touching how the museum and the local warbird community pulled together for my father after his week-in-hell. Craig made a commemorative plaque for my father bearing one of the severed blades and a typical British quip !!!
BTW, you would have to expect a totally correct paint job on NH749 when it was restored by Craig Charleston.
Here's my father getting fitted in NH749 by Mr. Charleston in the UK for the post-purchase inspection flight.
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