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Houston, Wildcat, Photo flight, & Guilt

Posted by Alan Brooks on Wed Oct 22, 2003 09:29:05 PM

Hello everyone. Well I kind of dropped off the map last Saturday evening.....Combination of several things, mainly the loss of the Wildcat and the pilot, Bill Johnson. I had mentioned in an earlier post that I was working my Airshow gig with Steve Palmer and Point Five Productions. Well folks, that evening flight was OUR photo flight. I had coordinated the flight after the morning pilot briefing given by Ralph Royce. We had a P-51, AD-4, P-63, and Tr MkIX Spit ready for after the show..... The B-25 Devildog was the camera ship. On the way out to the B-25, I saw Bill standing by the Wildcat and stopped to talk. I had met Bill at the Midland (CAF HQ) airshow. He had this big smile on his face and (paraphrasing) he told me "I am having just too much fun!" I then asked Bill if he was flying that afternoon, after the show. He said "no". I then invited him to fly with us that afternoon, that the final brief was at 3:00pm, meeting at the B-25. Wheels up was sheduled for 4:00pm, but was pushed back, so everyone could cool off, espicially the Spit, and fuel for those that needed. Lift off was at 5:30pm, headed toward Galveston (better background scenery). The sun was getting that golden glow and the air was getting smooth. Steve was in the tail shooting the five plane formation. P-63 in the center, with the Spit, then the FM-2 on the right wing. On the left wing of the Cobra was the P-51 followed be the AD-4. Looking really good, everyone holding position, with no problems. The formation splits into solo photo shots with one a/c on the tail of the B-25 and another coming to the right side of the B-25, where I am shooting. Everything is working out great. The P-63, Spit, P-51, AD, then the FM-2. After each individual photo shoot, that a/c then broke and headed back towards the field. The exception was the Wildcat. He did break to the left. We thought he then went ahead of us back to Ellington, but was actually loosely formed up behind us. The rest of the story is pretty much known. Steve and I did NOT see him go in. We were already strapped into our seats for landing and were indeed already on the taxiway when the tower called for "all aircraft hold/stop!" Bottom line. Guys, I know that I was not flying the airplane, but I still feel responsible 'cause he would not have been there, had I not asked. I'm still dealing with this one, Alan

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