Ford Tri-Motor Crashes at "Fullerton Airport Day" Air Show Photo Gallery by G.M. Hattrup at pbase.com

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G.M. Hattrup | profile | all galleries >> Ford Tri-Motor Crashes at "Fullerton Airport Day" Air Show

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Ford Tri-Motor Crashes at "Fullerton Airport Day" Air Show

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Sue and I stopped by the Fullerton airport to
watch the airshow. As we approached the airport, the police
and fire dept. were shutting down the street.
Fifteen minutes before we arrived a replica Ford Tri-Motor
had just augered in.
The pilot and mechanic were the only
persons on board and are listed in critical condition.
Two women in a passing car were injured
when they clipped the wing tip as the
plane hit the ground.
They were treated and released at a local
hospital. One of the women is in several of these
photographs, since her injuries were minor and
she was alert I have included these.

wendy		19-Feb-2009 00:40
If you moved your camara just a tad, you'de see my apartment. I lived directly accross the street from where the plane had parked for years. My father was trying to talk me into walking over and taking a ride. All the sudden, what I thought was an earthquake hit, and we walked outside to notice a bunch of people running over. We watched the whole thing. They cleaned up well into the wee hours of the night. I always wondered what had happened to the pilot and passenger. Thanks!!

KMcGuire		05-Jan-2009 07:27
I had my first airplane ride at age 12 in 1966 at the Merced Calif. airshow on Gaylord Moxon's,electronics manufacturer out of Santa Monica- P&W wasp 425 hp powerered 1929 Ford named "Graceful". What a memory,went for a ride with my best friend the next summer at Merced also. It ended up for years at Irving Perlich's Flying Lady restaurant at Morgan hill Calif.and brought over to the Salinas California airshow yearly but no rides were given in those 80's . They painted it a disgustingly fading color of red . I like the natural silver. I heard it was sold to a place in Florida.My dad showed it to me for sale in trade-a-plane for million back in the late 70's. My old man ,a Hiller helicopter master flight test mechanic took me to a lot of airshows in central California like Merced and Watsonville in those days. He used to crew on a j5 Wright 1928 Ford all over Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma in the mid thirties giving rides@ fairs and airshows.These planes were amazing in how they left the ground after only a short run.It was that thick wing but of course they did not go much over a 100 knots .There is a beutiful shiny one located under the left wing of the spruce goose at McMinnville Oregon. It used to be well kept at the Harrah's automobile museum in Reno.Absolutely shiny and dent free.I saw the Fulllerton crash on a tv show the other day and they said and it was painfully evident that a bright red tag that probably said "REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT" was still attached to a control surface on the empanage. People :you must do do a complete preflight every time ! ;

ozzy		09-Sep-2006 22:47
i was one of the fullerton police explorers that was there helping out, i personally helped out the lady that was in the car that was clipped by the wing of the trimotor i felt very proud of myself for helping out like that and i was also doing traffic control . Also an explorer was traumatised because she was the one that was holding the pilots bleeding head to try to keep him from moving his head and damaging it more, she moved to ohio

Kris Larson		27-May-2006 20:40
Tony, the passenger on this ill fated flight JUST came home from the hospital last week. He is now a paraplegic and had the fingers burned off of his right hand. He still needs 24/7 care but I hope he'll be able to one day be self-suffceint. I was giving airplane rides that day to raise money for charity and was #2 for takeoff behind the Tri-Motor. After witnessing the crash, I pulled off the runway, climbed over my passengers and ran across the street to the burning wreckage. I found Tony and with two other bystanders, pulled him from the wreckage. I rode with Tony to the hosiptal (UCI) and now, almost 20 months later, he's finally back home...

Randy Minnick		18-May-2006 15:53
I had flown as a passenger on this plane when it was giving rides at the Shafter/Minter Field airshow in '03. I recalled how solid this plane was and that it would take a mountain to stop it. After watching the video of the crash, I'm convinced that there was a problem with the controls (jammed - broken cable et.al.). The plane is just too stable to pull the type of manuever it made.

Sam Hicks		17-Nov-2005 17:19
In the picture of the Orange County Register where the plane is going down, I have one of my sons on my shoulders and I am holding my other son's hand. I had just convinced my children to take a ride on the plane guaranteeing that it wouldn't crash (they had just seen Castaway). We watched the horrible crash, we actually thought it was going to come down on us as banked towards the Control Tower. To this day they do not want to drive down Commonwealth. They will also not get on an airplane to travel anywhere, they are visibly frightened of the thought of riding in an aiplane. I feel very sad for the two gentlement that were injured.

Robin Reid		15-Jul-2005 03:37
A sad event. You documented it well. A tragedy for the injuires to all. And the airplane looks pretty beat up.

Steve Smestad		16-May-2005 23:17
On my dresser, now eight months later, is the ticket I bought for the flight of that Bushmaster which would have taken place right after this test flight. On the front page of the September 26th Orange County Register was a picture of several people waiting to board, including my wife and I, running or diving to avoid getting run over by this plane and the wacko at the controls as by the grace of God it lifted twenty feet over our heads instead of killing us. Since then, I have learned that possibly a strap used to hold the rudder stationary on the ground was not removed, rendering the aircraft uncontrollable on the ground and in the air. Jay, why did you take off? Planes have brakes, don't they? What a stupid reason to turn Tony Albanese into a parapalegic. Funny how the sight of a Trimotor, even on TV, still makes me uneasy. I think I'll avoid Airport Days this year.

J. Rogers		14-Jan-2005 07:17
Ummm...this may sound stupid. The picture in the upper left corner is of two people I know from the local CAP unit that was working the airshow. If the author wouldn't mind, can he please email me? I would like permission to print and/or email the link to others in the unit. Thank you. Jeff Rogers

Bob Filter		20-Nov-2004 19:57
What a sad, tragic event. I live near the airport and had intended to take a flight in that aircraft. I always enjoyed seeing it, even if it was tied down. I remember an original tri-motor that was based at Compton airport when I was a kid, and I suppose that is why I was interested in this plane. While I can't say I enjoyed the pictures, that is only because of the loss of the plane. I did want to know more about the crash, and your photos helped to provide that. Sad as it is, it could have been much worse. Thanks for sharing.

John Pelafigue		10-Oct-2004 02:33
Good documentation of the Bushmaster crash, Gary. Good shot of the control tower, I probably worked there longer than anyone else in its history (seven years), from '85 to '92. Too bad about the crash, glad it didn't take anyone's life.

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