[mad_as_he$$]

The weather was good at the time of the crash. It had been cloudy in the am and humidity was high for here. One witness that called on local talk radio thought he got clipped by another plane, but there is no collision damage in some very clear pics that are out this am. Just the trim tab gone or pushed all the way down.

[I cannot think of a name]

There’s no need for airplanes to touch to cause this kind of event - just some kind of “energizing” event that shakes the plane at the wrong time, in the wrong way, at the highest speeds. Modern aircraft are tested to be flutter free by installing a device called a shaker in the tail, and shaking the heck out of the aircraft at the highest speeds. Unfortunately World War II vintage aircraft were tested by “control stick raps” which will not reveal every situation under which flutter can occur. And of course, this was a heavily modified aircraft flying in close proximity to other heavily modified aircraft. What makes air racing exciting is also what makes it dangerous.