Looking for info on P-38 44-27083 - the Jeff Ethell plane

[RacingMustang]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for info on the P-38 that Jeff Ethell was killed flying on June 6, 1997. My family knew him and attended his funeral (I remember it from when I was still a little tike) and we're interested in what happened to that plane. All we know right now is that there was a lawsuit by the owners of the plane and his WWII photo collection was targeted at one point.

I'd be interested any info anyone here might have on Ethell's career, the plane he flew, and the history of the plane since June '97.

Here's what I've dug up. The plane is serial number 44-27083, a P-38L Lightning owned and restored by Jack Erickson and named "Tangerine" after purchase from Bruce Pruitt. The plane was first flown after restoration in September 1996. Ethell crashed in June 1997.

Here's where I get confused. The FAA registry has a current airworthiness certificate for it, issued in March '99, a year and a half after the crash.

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry ... rtxt=2114L

And it is still listed in the Tillamook Air Museum's collection:

http://www.tillamookair.com/p-38-lightning.html

But I can find no record of it being restored, it is listed on the Pacific Wrecks website with no history past summer '97, and the same on the Warbird Registry page.

http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/p ... 27083.html
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p38regis ... 27083.html

So enough of my rambling...what happened to the plane?

[mustangdriver]

I think Tangerine is a different P-38. Tangerine is very much still in the tillamook collection. We saw it not that long ago.

[mike furline]

There were two different P-38 airframes restored by Erickson. IIRC Bruce Pruett owned both airframes and parts (44-26969 & 44-27083), some type of deal was made that if Erickson restored both aircraft he would get ownership of one P-38 as payment. Again IIRC, after the crash there was a debate/lawsuit on who owned the P-38 that was wrecked. Erickson saying it was Pruetts, Pruett saying it was Ericksons(or something along those lines).

44-26969 - the plane Ethell wrecked.
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p38regis ... 26969.html
http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief ... 130&akey=1

44-27083 - Still at Tillamook.
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p38regis ... 27083.html

[RacingMustang]

Wow Mike...thanks a lot. That's exactly what I was looking for. You guys are awesome.

Reading that FAA report is chilling, to me at least.

[Red Tail]

The remains of the subject airplane is now the property of The Texas Flying Legends. It's in storage at Aircorps Aviation in Bemidji, MN awaiting restoration.

John

[Jack Cook]

Jeff was a great guy and a good friend. But, he was in to much of a darn hurry. I well remember the day he crashed. I had talked to him a couple days before and he was pumped. He told me that he was going to show those P-38 pilots at Tillamook "some real great P-38 flying". He was up early and flew from the east coast to PDX then rented a car and drove to Tillamook (2+ hours) and then jumped in the 38 and flew. Jeff died in front of all those pilots including me and his dad. He'd been up since dawn and flew/drove coast to coast. Exhaustion, inexperience and impaticence were big causes of the crash. Since he was not legal to fly the P-38 (no type rating) his life ins didn't pay benefits to his family. Jack Erickson was responsible for the safe operation of the a/c and was sued by the owner for allowing it's operation by a unqualified pilot and settled out of court for big $$$. Bruce Prewitt bought the wreck back from the ins. company and has since sold it and it's awaiting restoration.. I've heard from quite a few people ( sorry no names) that although Jeff had a all piston expermental (NOT limited) card and flew a lot of warbirds he wasn't really the best pilot and performed marginally in some. Take these words with a grain of salt because Jeff was a really good friend and we helped each other a lot with our research. If he'd just slowed down and done it by the numbers. He possibly could be here now participating on the forum.

[rtwpsom2]

The remains of the subject airplane is now the property of The Texas Flying Legends. It's in storage at Aircorps Aviation in Bemidji, MN awaiting restoration.

John

Ah, Dan and I were talking about that airframe a couple weeks back he wasn't sure of it's back story. Good to see she'll fly again.

[over/out]

oops

Last edited by over/out on Mon Mar 17, 2014 12:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[JohnTerrell]

For those that never saw what the P-38 Jeff was flying that day looked like (photos of that particular aircraft are rare (as opposed to the Tillamook P-38, which still flies today - the one that Jeff flew for the well known photo-shoot and Roaring Glory film)), there is one photo of that aircraft in post #279 on this page (the silver one): http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthre ... 29&page=19

[Warbird Kid]

Thanks. Reposted here for everyone. A true shame we lost Jeff.

[Sasquatch]

http://www.amazon.com/Roaring-Glory-War ... B00000FBP0

[BenG]

Before This, I THINK I saw it in an add in Classic Wings Mag. (I'll Check the issue soon) as to it being for sale downunder. I also read some where that the ex- Fighter collection's "Happy Jacks go Buggy" was ALSO stored some where in Texas? SORRY if any of this is incorrect, it's just that this topic got the old hamsters spinning some wheels upstairs! Of course please let us know if any of this is correct.

Yes, it was advertised in CW and also brokered by Benjamin Morgan downunder - if my memory serves me correctly, the wreck was mangled but not burned.

@ Warbird Kid: thanks for posting the pic.

[over/out]

oops

Last edited by over/out on Mon Mar 17, 2014 12:35 pm, edited 3 times in total.

[BenG]

Google is your best friend : viewtopic.php?p=376272

[maxum96]

Jeff was a great guy and a good friend. But, he was in to much of a darn hurry. I well remember the day he crashed. I had talked to him a couple days before and he was pumped. He told me that he was going to show those P-38 pilots at Tillamook "some real great P-38 flying". He was up early and flew from the east coast to PDX then rented a car and drove to Tillamook (2+ hours) and then jumped in the 38 and flew. Jeff died in front of all those pilots including me and his dad. He'd been up since dawn and flew/drove coast to coast. Exhaustion, inexperience and impaticence were big causes of the crash. Since he was not legal to fly the P-38 (no type rating) his life ins didn't pay benefits to his family. Jack Erickson was responsible for the safe operation of the a/c and was sued by the owner for allowing it's operation by a unqualified pilot and settled out of court for big $$$. Bruce Prewitt bought the wreck back from the ins. company and has since sold it and it's awaiting restoration.. I've heard from quite a few people ( sorry no names) that although Jeff had a all piston expermental (NOT limited) card and flew a lot of warbirds he wasn't really the best pilot and performed marginally in some. Take these words with a grain of salt because Jeff was a really good friend and we helped each other a lot with our research. If he'd just slowed down and done it by the numbers. He possibly could be here now participating on the forum.

Jack, I know it's now been about 17 years since Jeff died, but I'm sorry to hear you lost a good friend. Been there done that and it tough. I never met the man. But I've read his books and used to love seeing him on t.v. talking about and flying warbirds. Maybe he wasn't the best pilot around and maybe he made some fatal mistakes that day. But he was a great teacher of warbird history and came across as a super nice person. I wish he was here participating on this forum as I'd love to learn from him.