Ocala, Fl based air racer, Jimmy Leeward died September 16, 2011 when his highly modified P-51 Mustang, Galloping Ghost, pitched up suddenly before crashing into a grandstand area killing nearly a dozen spectators and the race pilot.
Leeward, an experienced race pilot, EAA director and well known aviation booster was competing in the Unlimited Gold Heat at the Reno Air Races late Friday afternoon when his plane crashed.
TRIM TAB PROBLEM LIKELY TO BE INVESTIGATED
A similar event occured in 1996.
Voodoo on a better day with veteran Race Pilot "Hurricane" Bob Hannah (Click to enlarge)
In 1998 Bob Hannah had the trim tab break on his P-51 Voodoo. A violent pull-up resulted and when he woke up at 9,000 feet, he was face down in the left hand corner of the cockpit, still under many g’s and had to work his hand up the internal stucture with his fingers to reach the throttle. Once he pulled the power off, he was able to sit up and fly the airplane.
Photo of Voodoo after Hannah successfully landed following broken trim tab (Click to enlarge)
It appears the same thing may have happened to Jimmy Leeward. Very likely, he was unconscious from the time that his P-51 went vertical until impact. From the photos, you cannot see his head in the cockpit. He was probably face down like Bob Hanna was. Bob Hanna never raced again after that.
Additionally, in the photos showing the plane in a near verticle descent into the crowd the tailwheel is in the down position. The fact that the tailwheel was forced down by the G-forces shows how violent they were.
About Sandy
