Vintage P-47 aircraft crashes in Hudson River, pilot killed

Christian Science Monitor ^ | 5-28-16 | Magdalena Doris

[tcrlaf]

Try running the Chicago Flyway on a clear day.

Low and slow, with a view that’s tough to beat. After that, you’ll want your own ticket.

[wita]

Your husband is a very fortunate man, and in the liberal land of Boeing. Others like myself are in memory land remembering our “flights” of fancy. I have for example sat in more than one P-51. Flown in a hundred different aircraft. Piloted my share of single and multi-engine U.S. military aircraft, but only dreamed of owning a turbo Beech Bonanza, or flying a P-51. Fortunately I have the memories, and no regrets.

[gigster]

Sorry, I’m not familiar with the Chicago Flyway. could you enlighten me, please?

[wita]

We really should have a Freep lunch or something up there...

Would not be difficult to organize. I just haven’t made up my mind that I can actually swing it this year. Schedule always in flux.

[ETL]

It happened near the Intrepid, right around where Tully safely and miraculously brought down a commercial airliner several years ago.

From the New York Post...

“The P-47 Thunderbolt suffered a possible mechanical failure at about 7:30 p.m. and went into the river near the Intrepid Museum at West 46th Street, cops said.

“I saw the plane flying really low and I was thinking ‘what is this guy doing?’” witness Frank Piazza, 44, told The Post. “Then it bounced two times and then it went straight under — I don’t think he made it.”

Horrified onlookers at the ­Waterside Restaurant in North Bergen, NJ, said the pilot, later identified as 56-year-old Bill Gordon of Key West, Fla., desperately tried to escape.

“He opened the cockpit but he couldn’t get out,” said Johnny Flores, 25. “When he tried to get out it started sinking really fast.”

Witness Joanne Stolfo, of Ridgewood, NJ, said, “It was a very solemn feeling because we knew we were watching someone die.”

Gordon’s body was recovered by NYPD scuba divers at around 11 p.m.”

http://nypost.com/2016/05/27/plane-crashes-into-hudson-river/
______________________________

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

US Airways Flight 1549 Plane crash into Hudson River

On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 (AWE1549), an Airbus A320 piloted by Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles, made an unpowered emergency water landing in the Hudson River after multiple bird strikes caused both jet engines to fail. All 155 passengers and crew aboard the Airbus A320 successfully evacuated from the partially submerged airframe as it sank into the river; they were rescued by nearby watercraft. Several occupants suffered injuries, a few of them serious, but only one required hospitalization overnight. The incident came to be known as the “Miracle on the Hudson”, and Captain Sullenberger and the crew were hailed as heroes.[4][5][6]

The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200, registered N106US, operating as a US Airways scheduled domestic commercial passenger flight from LaGuardia Airport in New York City to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina. About three minutes into the flight, at local time 3:27 p.m. EST, the plane struck a flock of Canada geese during its initial climb out from LaGuardia, just northeast of the George Washington Bridge. The bird strike caused both jet engines to quickly lose power.

As the aircraft lost altitude, the flight deck crew decided that the plane could not reach the closest airfield. They turned southbound and glided over the Hudson, finally ditching the airliner off midtown Manhattan near the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum, about three minutes after losing power.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways_Flight_1549

[Wilhelm Tell]

If my car engine stalls as I am pulling out of the driveway, I am probably not seconds away from crashing into trees at 100 mph.

[equaviator]

“anytime a plane leaves the ground, there is danger. Yes, a lower level of danger than driving in a car,”

Air travel on a jumbo or most other airliners’ planes is said to be safer than traveling by automobile and it probably is, but the chances of surviving airplane crashes are probably less.

[tcrlaf]

The Chicago Flyway is the charted VFR (clear weather flight rules) small plane flying route along the Lake Michigan lakeshore in front of downtown Chicago, that doesn’t require you to be in contact with Air Traffic Control near Ohare. (Although it’s a good idea!)

In one section, it has to be flown at 1400 feet (2000 AGL) or less above the water to be under and avoid an approach path for the jets into Midway, to north of where Downtown Meigs Field Airport used to be before Daley illegally destroyed it.

A sight to behold, for sure.

[jamaksin]

Republic P-47D (”bubble canopy”)- aka “Jugs”.

[Flag_This]

"A flying tank!"

In the early part of the Korean War, they used P-51s for ground attack. I don't understand why, since they knew from WWII that the P47's radial engine made it much more survivable in that role.

[Does so]

The greatest ace in the European Theater of WW2 flew a P-47

The P-47's original design was by a Russian, "trapped" in the US by the 1917 Russian Revolution.

[Hugin]

I knew a P47 pilot. He had some great stories. I asked him what was the scariest thing they did and he told me attacking trains. They had to fly parallel over the tracks at low altitude right above the train, which made them easy targets for the anti-aircraft guns the Germans mounted on top of the cars. One of their guys got hit by machine gun fire and came back with over 100 bullet holes in his plane. One tough bird.

He also told me one reason they didn’t use P47 for escorts was they looked too much like Folke-Wulf 190s from the front. Nervous bomber gunners had a habit of shooting at them in the heat of battle.

[jimmyray]

In FMEA speak, occurance vs. severity.

[Rannug]

One of my cousins flew a P-47. He and his plane were shot down and crashed into The Zuiderzee in 1943. He, and others, were escorting B17s that day. His plane and remains were found in 1995. May ALL rest in peace.

[taildragger]

"I should have added, “See ya’ at Airventure!” We really should have a Freep lunch or something up there..."

If I am going I'm in, although I am usually busy when I am @ OSH, I'll explain later...

[Aria]

Yes, he will be there...he is doing that race.

[ETL]

It happened near the Intrepid, right around where "Sully" (Chesley B. Sullenberger) safely and miraculously brought down a commercial airliner in 2009.

From the New York Post...

“The P-47 Thunderbolt suffered a possible mechanical failure at about 7:30 p.m. and went into the river near the Intrepid Museum at West 46th Street, cops said.

“I saw the plane flying really low and I was thinking ‘what is this guy doing?’” witness Frank Piazza, 44, told The Post. “Then it bounced two times and then it went straight under — I don’t think he made it.”

Horrified onlookers at the ­Waterside Restaurant in North Bergen, NJ, said the pilot, later identified as 56-year-old Bill Gordon of Key West, Fla., desperately tried to escape.

“He opened the cockpit but he couldn’t get out,” said Johnny Flores, 25. “When he tried to get out it started sinking really fast.”

Witness Joanne Stolfo, of Ridgewood, NJ, said, “It was a very solemn feeling because we knew we were watching someone die.”

Gordon’s body was recovered by NYPD scuba divers at around 11 p.m.”

http://nypost.com/2016/05/27/plane-crashes-into-hudson-river/
______________________________

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

US Airways Flight 1549 Plane crash into Hudson River

On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 (AWE1549), an Airbus A320 piloted by Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles, made an unpowered emergency water landing in the Hudson River after multiple bird strikes caused both jet engines to fail. All 155 passengers and crew aboard the Airbus A320 successfully evacuated from the partially submerged airframe as it sank into the river; they were rescued by nearby watercraft. Several occupants suffered injuries, a few of them serious, but only one required hospitalization overnight. The incident came to be known as the “Miracle on the Hudson”, and Captain Sullenberger and the crew were hailed as heroes.[4][5][6]

The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200, registered N106US, operating as a US Airways scheduled domestic commercial passenger flight from LaGuardia Airport in New York City to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina. About three minutes into the flight, at local time 3:27 p.m. EST, the plane struck a flock of Canada geese during its initial climb out from LaGuardia, just northeast of the George Washington Bridge. The bird strike caused both jet engines to quickly lose power.

As the aircraft lost altitude, the flight deck crew decided that the plane could not reach the closest airfield. They turned southbound and glided over the Hudson, finally ditching the airliner off midtown Manhattan near the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum, about three minutes after losing power.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways_Flight_1549

[crz]

The most rugged war plane ever built in its day. Many pilots would come back with the hell shot out of it and it still flew. One, came back with a couple pistons flopping since the jugs got shot off. The dam thing brought him back anyways.

The high rate of casualties in squadrons were the result of the danger of the ground strafing they did.
When they came back, they had to fly round to slow the thing down to land.

This plane they fished out of the water will fly again.

[smokingfrog]

The P47 didn't have nearly the range and speed of the P51. I think our bomber losses dropped quite a bit when the P51 was put into service.

In an unpublished manuscript, author Jeffrey L. Ethell wrote that the Merlin-powered P-51B initially carried about the same amount of fuel as the P-47 Thunderbolt, but “got 3.3 miles per gallon while the P-47 got less than 1.8.” Mustang ace Brig. Gen. Thomas “Tommy” Hayes said that the Merlin-powered P-51 “had the three qualities you need most if you were going to escort bombers to Berlin – range, range and range.”

[Right Brother]

He also told me one reason they didn’t use P47 for escorts was they looked too much like Folke-Wulf 190s from the front

Your are so right. I never thought of their similarity. The FW190 was one hell of a bird too.