One dead in P-51 crash near RAF Hardwick

One person was killed and another seriously injured in a P-51 Mustang crash near the former RAF Hardwick airfield. A witness said that the aircraft appeared normal and was approaching to land with gear down at the time of the crash.

He said it appeared to come into the runway normally, with its landing gear down and ready to land, but that he heard a small explosion after it disappeared behind some trees, a noise he thought was just the engine playing up.

Mr Christian told the Press Association: “I was taking the dogs for a walk and I was walking up the back field and the plane in question, I think this is a vintage Mustang, was flying in and coming into land quite normally and flew right over my head.

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Damn shame. Those are becoming very rare birds.
Condolences to the family.

a reply to: Zaphod58

More on the Beeb:

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A man in his 80s has died after the light aircraft he was a passenger in crashed in Norfolk. Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service said the plane came down at Hardwick airfield near Bungay at about 15:35 BST. It burst into flames and firefighters called to the scene found one person had died, a spokeswoman said. The male pilot was airlifted to Norfolk and Norwich Hospital for treatment and is in a serious condition. The spokeswoman added: "When the first appliance arrived it was confirmed that [the aircraft] was on fire and unfortunately we have had it confirmed that there was one deceased and one airlifted to hospital. "As far as we are aware it was two people on board and we believe it was a two-seater plane."

Really sorry to hear of the loss. Pure speculation on my part but the 51 will kill you on final if you get low and slow and cram the power to it. The bird will torque roll upside down and not a darn thing you can do about it. Low approach keep your speed up or normal approach add power properly. If making a go-around add power and rudder together for coordinated flight for if you just fire wall the engine expect to end up on your back. The F4U would do the same thing only not as bad.

During the long range missions into Germany when they had to use the rear fuselage ferry tank along with the drop tanks the COG would become very marginal with the laminar flow wings..A purebred escort machine.