Warbird Information Exchange

Check out the last line

BERLIN (Reuters) - The glass cockpit cover of a vintage World War Two U.S. fighter P51 Mustang came off in midflight over Germany and destroyed a carry-out stand near the western German town of Muenster, police said Thursday.

No one was hurt when pieces of the glass covering of the single-propeller plane crashed into the roof of a house and demolished the takeaway stand Wednesday, police said. The debris missed hitting a woman by about one meter (yard).

But the British pilot of the plane, which had taken off from near London, carried on another 250 miles to his destination at Berlin's Schoenefeld airport without reporting the loss of the cockpit's glass cover.

"The pilot just kept on flying, apparently as if nothing had happened," a police spokesman in Muenster said.



Police said the bonnet-less plane, which was built in 1942 and is capable of flying 700 km/h, was found parked correctly at the International Air Show in Berlin but there was no trace of the pilot. The pilot is wanted for questioning, police said.

Found it here:

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsartic ... ml&src=rss

now thats just goofy and stupid. Did he really think no one would notice??

Tom P.

He's just lucky the canopy didn't hit and killed someone.
Why do smart people do dumb things?

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Don't touch my junk!!

Yea I have read about that too on a Dutch news website, I think the only visiting P-51D is Rob Davies G-HAEC.

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http://www.warbird-hangar.com links and gallery &
http://www.yakkes.com Yakkes Foundation, Yak-52

Thats probably the first time that has happened in 60 or so years

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Share your story: Rutgers Oral History Archive http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/

What would make it pop off?

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The conquest of space is worth the risk of life. - Gus Grissom

The Police can't have been looking hard, as in the photo in the link that MikeJ posted, the owner/pilot is standing next to the machine, complete with his trademark flying suit!

So that part sounds like a load of BS to me, as does the bit about him flying "as if nothing had happened".

Personally, I don't see any reason for him to make a precautionary landing if there was no damage to him, his back seat passenger (if there was one) or the aircraft. As for people on the ground, you can only hope & pray!

Anyway, glad to hear that it all ended happily with no apparent damage to persons or the P51.

It would be interesting to know what caused it to detach though.

Cheers

Paul

Next thing you know, some political a** hole is going to try to keep "Warbirds" from flying in Europe.

They'll start saying that they're too old and are subject to falling apart over populated areas. And, that the governments can't be/aren't going to be held responsible if someone gets hurt.

Most fighters have a canopy eject mechanism. Not sure about the Mustang, but in the Sea Fury it's a floor mounted lever that releases a pre-loaded spring to eject the canopy. Another Sea Fury lost a canopy a few years back. Not common, but it happens. Remember the three rules for getting out of a warbird fighter...plexiglass, harnass, your ass.

I'm sure they're going to love all the little swastika flags on the side of the P-51. Maybe he should add a "kill" symbol that looks like a news stand. It's probably the first target taken out in Germany by a P-51 in 60 years.

right side of the cockpit just under the windscreen.
This sort of reminds me of the the Army Guard was flying OV-1Ds out here and one dropped both drop tanks into a back yard in Turner during a BBQ while it was on final to 31!!
In the Navy it was referred to TFOA or Thing Fell Of Airplane duh..........

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Don't touch my junk!!

I think if the canopy is not locked down properly on the carriages it can come loose. As I recall, it "snaps" into place.

The handle is supposed to have a small gauge safety wire (I think it is brass) which is easily broken if pulled hard enough. Before take off in any aircraft with a mechanically ejected canopy you are supposed to puss up on the canopy to ck the integrity of the latches. At the annual inspection the the canopy is usually removed for inspection and may have not been latched correctly.
The really big concern for me is that I was always told that the reason the manual says to lower the seat all the way down before pulling the handle, is to avoid it from hitting you on the head when it leaves, as it doesn't just pop up but turns sideways across your head before being blown off the aircraft. So I think the pilot of this flight was lucky also.