P-51C Warbird down.

Check here for a news release: http://www.republican-eagle.com/main.asp?

FromHome=1&TypeID=1&ArticleID=22736&SectionID=3&SubSectionID=83

Here's the linked story from the Red Wing (MN) Republican Eagle newspaper...

A P-51 Mustang made an emergency off-aiport landing during the "Wings of Freedom: Salute to Veterans" airshow at the Red Wing Regional Airport Saturday.
The pilot communicated the plane was experiencing mechanical failure and at about 2:10 p.m., the plane avoided power lines, a large tree and houses in the area to land in the backyard of Fred and Joan Walker' s home near Hager City, Wis.
Emergency crews from the airport responded to the scene and the pilot, who was awake and still inside the plane shortly after going down, was air lifted to a hospital and was in serious condition.
Fred Walker was home at the time as was daughter, Katie Moyle, who was visiting home from Appleton, Wis.
During the afternoon, they could hear the sounds of explosions during the Tora! Tora! Tora! reenactment happening at the airshow but heard a different sound behind their house.
After seeing the downed plane, they soon called 911.
Since they lived so close to the airport they planned on invited family over to watch the airshow from the backyard.
"We were going to have a big picnic in the backyard on Sunday," Joan said. "It was a good thing we didn't have it today."
Sunday's air show will continue as previously scheduled.

That particular P51 belongs to Kermit Weeks. Does anyone know who was flying it when it went down ? Kermit has perhaps the largest private collection of warbirds and vintage aircraft in the world. He moved his collection from Miami/Homestead to Polk City (a few miles from Disneyworld) after Hurricane Andrew went through. Anyone in the Orlando area interested in vintage aircraft should make a point to visit the musuem http://www.fantasyofflight.com . Hope the pilot is doing OK, whoever he is.

The one that went down is the CAF's C model Mustang. Kermit Weeeks C model is polished metal. The CAF's is painted silver. Both have very similar markings. Here's a shot of Kermit Weeks' 'Stang.

>That particular P51 belongs to Kermit Weeks. Does anyone
>know who was flying it when it went down ?

The pilot was 60 year old Donald Hinz of Woodbury, MN. He is in critical condition at St. Paul's Regions Hospital.

From the article in today's St. Paul Pioneer Press (requires registration) http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/8795922.htm

"Hinz, 60, was flying a rare World War II-era P-51C Mustang fighter aircraft during the three-day air show shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday when he attempted an emergency landing about a mile west of Red Wing Regional Airport, which sits across the river from Red Wing in Bay City, Wis.

Hinz, an experienced pilot, is a member of the Minnesota Wing Commemorative Air Force, which puts on the annual air show. He also coordinated the group's nine-year restoration of the P-51C, considered the signature aircraft of the Tuskegee Airmen, the nation's first black military pilots.

Hinz is on the board of directors of the Red Tail Project, a group based at South St. Paul's Fleming Field that restored the plane to help educate people about the accomplishments of the Tuskegee Airmen. According to the group, the plane it restored is one of only two flying "C" models in existence."

Added note - the paper published a photo of the wrecked fuselage (both wings were ripped off). The view is only of the topside of the fuse and no markings are visible, aside from the yellow trim tabs on the painted red empennage. The fuselage finish looks like painted silver, not polished. Engine failure was the suspected cause. The pilot was doing flybys but crashed about a mile west of the Red Wing, MN airport. The crash was out of view for the 2,500 spectators at the show (weather here has been lots of rain and wind for the past several days).

And once again, that priceless Merlin sound.

A shame- sounds like the plane is a write off. All the pre-D model Mustangs are rare today.

Interestingly, both C model Mustangs that were restored to flying condition were finished in Tuskeegee colors and had their signature C model dorsal fin removed to replicate a B model. Kermit Weeks' airplane is the 1948 Bendix winner flown by then owner Paul Mantz. There is at least one other C model in existence, it is the other ex-Mantz racer and winner of the 1946 and 1947 Bendix. NX1202 was donated to the Smithsonian by Charles Blair and is on display at the new Uday-Hazy (sp) hangar at Dulles.
Chris...

It just came across the local news scroll that Don Hinz passed away this afternoon. This is sad news, indeed.

Pity. He went "over the hills and far away" to join his airplane I guess.

The P-51C that was destroyed was a C.A.F. aircraft of the Minnesota wing. It was one of 2 'C' models in flying condition. Kermit's is the only one left. The pilot was Don Hinz of Minneapolis. The Tora, Tora, Tora Zeros and Vals flew the missing man formation on Sunday. Needless to sat Don did not survive the accident.

C.A.F. Col Thomas Wilk
Squardon 101 Duluth of the MN Wing

Donald Hinz has "slipped the surely bonds". God speed Sir.

[photo not recovered: 1crash31.l.jpg]

Pilot in Red Wing air show crash dies
Matt Mckinney, Star Tribune
May 31, 2004DEADPILOT0531




BAY CITY, WIS. -- The pilot of a vintage fighter plane who died after crash landing during an air show Saturday was credited with steering clear of homes and people when his P-51C Mustang lost power a mile from the airport.

Pilot Donald Hinz, 60, of Woodbury, struck a stand of trees before slamming into a family's back yard at high speed.

"He flew the airplane all the way to impact," said friend Timothy J. Barzen. "He took the best option out of no options."

His death early Sunday shocked the friends and family of Hinz, a former Navy pilot and father of four boys, two of them pilots with the Marines.

"Don was our leader," Barzen said. "This is a great loss for all of us."

The crash occurred shortly after a bombing demonstration. "It was all boom, boom, boom. And then it was a different boom," said Fred Walker of Hager City, Wis., whose house sits across a field from the end of the runway.

WreckageColin BeltzRed Wing Republican Eagle/ap
Walker ran to the back of his house to find Hinz still seated in his Mustang, a path of debris showing where he had crashed through a wall of trees before slamming into Walker's lawn.

Investigators quickly determined that engine failure was to blame. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.

Hinz was flown by helicopter to Regions Hospital in St. Paul. He was pronounced dead at 4:20 a.m. Sunday.

Hinz was a private pilot with a plane at Fleming Field in South St. Paul when he first learned about the efforts to restore a P-51C Mustang, his friends recalled. Hinz sold his trash hauling business, Eagle Sanitation, and had enough money to help restore the plane. His early interest soon became a consuming passion.

The plane became the centerpiece of the Red Tail Project, teaching the history of the Tuskegee Airmen, the African-American fighter pilots of World War II. The pilots were segregated into their own unit during the war, reflecting the racial divisions in the United States at the time. The pilots returned to a segregated America.

Hinz's family is asking that donations be made to the project to continue flying the P-51C, at Red Tail Project, 225 Bravo Lane, South St. Paul, MN, 55075.

Matt McKinney is at [email protected].

A memory of a better day follows:

Tony