P47 crashed in New York

[knight]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36404322

looks like engine failure and a body has been recovered

[ChemicalChaos]

Assuming he managed to glide down and pancake on the water, I wonder what went wrong? Or is the report trying to claim it dived in?

[Eric Mc]

Very sad - both for the loss of the pilot and the aircraft, airworthy versions of which are pretty rare.

[Smollet]

From some of the pictures tI've seen of the aircraft on the water the landing wasn't that severe. It seemed he was unable to get the canopy open before it sank. Very sad.

[Eric Mc]

Tragic.

I would have thought he would have opened the canopy before impact - if he had time, of course. He could have been knocked unconscious by the impact too.

From what I've read, because of its big, deep fuselage, the P-47 wasn't the easiest aircraft to ditch.

[aeropilot]

Eric Mc said:

Tragic.

I would have thought he would have opened the canopy before impact - if he had time, of course. He could have been knocked unconscious by the impact too.

From what I've read, because of its big, deep fuselage, the P-47 wasn't the easiest aircraft to ditch.

Knocked unconscious on impact would be most likely scenario, only would have needed to have been out for a moment or two really with it sinking, even with canopy open.

It looks remarkably in one piece on lifting it out of the river, but then they are built like the preverbal brick sthouse.



RIP Bill Gordon

[telecat]

Looks like the pilot did everything to save his aircraft and was pretty successful in doing so. A real shame he lost his life.

[Simpo Two]

Eric Mc said:

I would have thought he would have opened the canopy before impact - if he had time, of course. He could have been knocked unconscious by the impact too.

IIRC the general plan for ditching is canopy open, straps tight - but nothing is perfect and you only get one chance. Unlucky.

[Eric Mc]

That's what did in Irish air ace Paddy Finucane back in 1942.

[Simpo Two]

Eric Mc said:

That's what did in Irish air ace Paddy Finucane back in 1942.

Ah yes, remembered the incident but not the name. And I'm sure there were many more we don't know about. Thanks Eric.

[Eric Mc]

I'm sure there must have been dozens of such incidents in World War 2, most would have gone unobserved. Finucane's was well documented because his ditching was observed by a number of his squadron colleagues who saw the plane hit the water and Finucane fail to get out.

[TR4man]

Not quite the same, I know, but bought this back to my mind

https://youtu.be/Qg0Jj-2x5rM

[Simpo Two]

TR4man said:

Not quite the same, I know, but bought this back to my mind

Why he didn't eject?

Hovering a helicopter over it can't have helped it float though.

[tight5]

Never seen or heard one of these in the flesh, so -

https://youtu.be/yXPytatsWgI

[Eric Mc]

They are impressive beasts. They were the heaviest single engined fighters used during World War 2. I've been lucky enough to see P-47s display on a number of occasions.

[Simpo Two]

Eric Mc said:

They are impressive beasts. They were the heaviest single engined fighters used during World War 2.

'By God it ought to dive, it certainly won't climb!' - Don Blakeslee

[MarkwG]

Simpo Two said:

Why he didn't eject? Hovering a helicopter over it can't have helped it float though.

This may help.

https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1958/...

[Simpo Two]

Interesting, thanks. It seems there was to much for him to do in the time available, but it seems he wasnt't thinking clearly before that.

[MarkwG]

Simpo Two said:

Interesting, thanks. It seems there was to much for him to do in the time available, but it seems he wasn't thinking clearly before that.

I guess it's easy to judge through the prism of history, but all things considered he was just very unfortunate so many things worked against him, some of which should have been there to help. The aviation & marine worlds are fraught with danger even now, back then combining the two meant a lot of learning was done the hard way.

[Simpo Two]

MarkwG said:

I guess it's easy to judge through the prism of history, but all things considered he was just very unfortunate so many things worked against him, some of which should have been there to help. The aviation & marine worlds are fraught with danger even now, back then combining the two meant a lot of learning was done the hard way.

Agreed. When I read of the likes of Eric Brown, one reason he surived was because he was always thinking, always aware of every risk, always had a way out ready so that if something went wrong he could react instantly.

I can only assume that Cdr. Russell had his head in the office so didn't know he was still rolling.