RIP Loved Ones and Friends Pilot Jimmy Leeward

The Galloping Ghost, a Magnificent P-51

10 Spectators Die, 69 Injured

in Tragedy in Reno at 2011

48th National Championship Air Races and Air Show

Missing You, Blue Mitchell @ http://www.myspace.com/pamela.olson.playwright/music/playlists#!/pamela.olson.playwright/music/pl aylists/rip-my-friend-pilot-jimmy-leeward-and-the-galloping-ghost-a-magnificent-p-51-3603051

A Man Who Would Revolutionize Must First Revolutionize Himself

Pamela Olson's RIP Pilot Jimmy Leeward
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The revamped WWII North American Aviation P-51 Mustang fighter plane known affectionately as The Galloping Ghost Racer 177 crashed at the 2011 48th National Championship Air Races and Air Show in Reno, Nevada USA. Racer 177 The Galloping Ghost was piloted by veteran Hollywood stunt pilot James K. Jimmy Leeward, 74, also a champion air racer with 60 years aviation experience. The National Championship Air Races and Air Show features most of the fastest racing planes in the world traveling at 400 to 500 miles per hour around pylons on a course at times 50 feet above Stead Airport, about 15 miles north of Reno, Nevada. Danger is an expected part of the program for air racers, air show participants and, spectators in the first 47 years, 19 pilots died in the National Championship Air Races and Air Show since its first year in 1964. Friday September 16, 2011s air race accident with Jimmy Leeward and The Galloping Ghost was the first to involve spectators in its then 48 years. When you fly an airplane, there are certain risks just in taking off and landing, and when you add the dimension of racing, its a fast sport; its not unlike Indianapolis or NASCAR, said Mike Houghton of the Reno Air Racing Association about this tragic crash. Jimmy Leeward and his P-51 were racing in the Gold heat of the powerful category of planes, The Unlimiteds, where very few aircraft design rules apply. The primary rules are that the airplanes have to be piston-engine powered and have a minimum weight of 4,500 pounds empty. Jimmy Leeward was on course, in then third place, moving up in the field, when The Galloping Ghost coming off The Valley of Speed suddenly began to shudder. Jimmy Leeward and The Galloping Ghost immediately began what initially appeared to be their required climb. You could hear and see trouble all the way. A trim tab appeared to fall away. Over only two seconds Racer 177, The Galloping Ghost, pitched quickly and brutally up, rapidly gained altitude, then inverted, rolled scarily over upside down, revealing a now missing trim tab, its tail wheel popped out by the g-forces, its pilot out of sight, then moved frighteningly towards the packed spectator stands with 23,000 people, the thousands of people behind at the vendors, and then theVIP box offices with some 400 people, then it moved away, its magnificent Packard Merlin engine now screaming rather than its usual proud and mighty distinct roar. Then there was a split second of eerie, and even more terrifying, silence as The Galloping Ghost's celebrated engine stalled. And then, the magnificent P-51 pitched nose down, almost at a vertical, into the runway directly in front of the packed VIP box office spectator seats in front of the also packed with 23,000 people main grandstand, showering the first two VIP rows with lethal debris as it hit with an impact so savage it left only a crater 3 feet deep and 8 feet wide with very small pieces of itself ejected with lethal shrapnel force out a 100 yards or so around the sizable crater. That is the equivalent of an acre strewn with the deadly debris. Then, the sickening smell of blood began to ripple through the silent air. Aghast voices began to speak hushed, here and there was an oath, cries of pain and anguish grew, then sirens began their wails. A moan increased. The remaining racers engines of Strega, Voodoo and Rare Bear were heard coming around for their landings. Dust danced before our eyes now blurred with the tears of the shock. Pamela Olson's RIP Pilot Jimmy Leeward
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Sixty-nine spectators were injured. Six spectators and Jimmy Leeward died on impact. Four spectators perished at the hospital. Several spectators remained critical for weeks. Due to safety precautions built into the racer's fuel tank design, Jimmy Leeward's years of experience and the superior aircraft design and construction of The Galloping Ghost, even perhaps his quick thinking and heroic actions, there was no explosion or fireball which would have made an awful situation even more worse. Whatever it was, it saved hundreds of lives and avoided thousands of casualties. We don't know if veteran pilot Jimmy Leeward struggled mightily to pilot The Galloping Ghost away from the spectators as he clearly had minimal control if he was still even conscious with the likely 10 to 12 massive g forces at play although it does seem that The Galloping Ghost began to pull out a little shortly before impact. The fact that The Galloping Ghost's airframe remained completely intact (except for the elevator trim tab) through that abrupt violent pitch up is a clear testament to the superior design, construction, safety, and strength of The Galloping Ghost and proves without doubt just how much Jimmy Leeward and his crew valued all that. Clearly he and his crew had learned and applied much from the 1999 36th National Championship Air Races, when another highly modified P-51, Miss Ashley II, piloted by Gary Levitz, lost its trim tab during an Unlimited race. Miss Ashley II pitched violently upward, went vertical and broke up. We saw the engine came off, the wings break, the airplane shred in the air, and our friend Gary Levitz die. After The Galloping Ghost crash, 600 feet away a Vietnam-era restored Bell UH-1D helicopter on static display for the 2011 48th National Championship Air Races and Air Show, and its 25th Infantry Division Huey Crew, including several Vietnam veterans, instead of waiting for civilian medical helicopter transport, volunteered immediately their service. Within moments, this quick-thinking crew had installed the Huey's ground-handling wheels, and with the help of a heroic crew from another static display, pushed the three-ton aircraft uphill, fueled it, and hover-taxied to the The Galloping Ghost accident site. There they loaded several injured from crash, then airlifted them to a nearby hospital. So they were the first in the air to bring victims in to an area hospital. These heroes transported four injured spectators that tragic day, all of whom survived. The Helicopter Association International later announced this rapid response crew as the recipient of its 2012 Salute to Excellence Awards Eurocopter Golden Hour Award. It is the annual honor of recognition for those who uphold the helicopter industrys highest traditions. Thank you retired fire fighter David Dean, California Highway Patrol officer Brent Marker, pilot Ray Murphy who flew two tours in Vietnam before going on to a 25year career at the FAA, copilot Tim Horrell another Vietnam vet, and co-owner Chris Miller. A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) team was dispatched from Washington, D.C., to launch an investigation with the Federal Aviation Administration, which announced the rest of the 2011 48th Annual National Championship Air Races and Air Show as canceled FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said several FAA inspectors were on hand for the races and were present during The Galloping Ghost accident, which occurred at about 4:20 pm. September 16, 2011. Pamela Olson's RIP Pilot Jimmy Leeward
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Son of an aviation pioneer, Jimmy Leeward was a pilot since the age of 14, was in excellent physical shape with a current medical certificate and pilot's license who was always reaching his hands out amidst the stars. The Galloping Ghost is a former World War II P-51 fighter plane that had flown with a sense of lordliness in the Cleveland air races in the 1940s. Jimmy Leeward with his desire for masterful adventure bought Racer 177 about 25 years ago and had recently renovated it, establishing a new proportionality to his life. To fully live life is an ambition permitted only to one fully grown for it requires the final stripping of disillusionment. Standing apart from the ordinary, Jimmy Leeward had been flying in racing competitions since the 1970s, and had piloted a P-51 as a stunt pilot in the films Tuskegee Airmen, Dragonfly, Amelia and Smokey and the Bandit Part 3. The Galloping Ghost's renovations were completed in 2009, and Jimmy Leeward, replacing his beloved Cloud Dancer, debuted proudly his modified P-51 Racer 177 a passion to know at the 2010 47th National Championship Air Races and Air Show. It is the only air race of its kind in the United States. Jimmy Leeward was a professional airman for 60 years, savvy director and respected mentor with Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) for more than 20 years, champion air racer in several classes, veteran Hollywood stunt pilot, beloved family man, successful real estate developer, a gentleman, and a good friend whose whole life was built around his intense love affair with flying. EAA has 1000 chapters worldwide that are about relationships, relationships between the friends and fellow aviators that band together for their common passion, anything aviation. At the 2010 47th National Championship Air Races and Air Show, The Galloping Ghost and Jimmy Leeward had proven themselves. The Galloping Ghost was running fast, very dependably and safely. The Galloping Ghost was designed in the early 1940s as a long-range bomber escort and ground-strike aircraft that could cruise for more than a thousand miles at 360 mph. But for air racing, the planes are heavily modified to maintain speeds near 500 mph. The Galloping Ghost now had wings that were significantly clipped, with very small ailerons. Safe high takeoff and landing speeds were routine for The Galloping Ghost and Jimmy Leeward. Keeping all race fans and other crews with questions, Jimmy Leeward did not qualify in 2010. That means he starts last. He has to win every race to move up the Gold by Sunday ... and win Jimmy Leeward did. He won by toying with the field and then putting some power on in the last few laps. How fast is she? We still do not know. Jimmy Leeward knows, but he is not talking. Sunday would have shown us all how fast the Ghost really is. But ... the 2010 47th National Championship Unlimited Sunday race was canceled because of heavy wind! At the 2011 48th National Championship Air Races and Air Show, the Unlimited descended down the chute for the Gold Race as the chase aircraft declared its classic gentlemen, you have a race. The powerful and seasoned P-51 Strega pulled out in front followed by the mighty P-51 Voodoo, the beloved Bearcat Rare Bear, and in fourth was Jimmy Leeward in muscular The Galloping Ghost. By the third lap, Jimmy Leeward and The Galloping Ghost were in third place and, closing in on second. Then photos on the internet show this tragic sequence of events. The left elevator trim tab pushrod separated from the trim tab (or the pushrod broke in two, or maybe the point of attachment failed, or the attaching bolt failed.) That caused that tab to trail in a neutral position. That takes the nose-down trim away from the elevator. Given the high speed, the P-51 requires quite a bit of nose-down trim to comfortably maintain level flight. With one of the two trim tabs no longer providing any trim effect, the elevator immediately creates a very large up elevator input. A very large abrupt up elevator input Pamela Olson's RIP Pilot Jimmy Leeward
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around 500 mph when you do the math generates a savage climb with a g force in the area of 10 to 12 gs. Regardless of whether some or all of the tab is still attached to the elevator, it hasnt been providing any trim effect since the pushrod failed back at the moment of pitch up. World War II was a time when ordinary people began doing extraordinary things. The Cleveland National Air Races resumed after WWII, and ended in 1949, and it wasnt until 1964 when this type of breathtaking air racing began again. In 1964, my adopted mama, then in grad school at UCLA for her engineering degree still working for North American Aviation in Los Angeles, California, where she had also worked during WWII to build the P-51 Mustang, packed us up, and my adopted papa, a WWII Army Air Corp veteran in the North African, Mediterranean and Italian theatres, and then an aircraft engineer also with North American Aviation, drove us to with great pride to the first year's National Championship Air Races and Air Show. In 1964, it was held 20 miles east of Reno with bleachers seating 5,000 that organizers had borrowed from local schools. In 1966 it was moved to the site of the former Stead Air Force Base. I've been working the World Wings International booth since 1995 and, was on the crew of Ron Buccarelli's Precious Metal for three years. RIP my friend pilot Jimmy Leeward, The Galloping Ghost, a Magnificent P-51 and, RIP lost loved ones and friends who lost their lives on September 16, 2011 at the 2011 48th National Championship Air Races and Air Show. The Wind, Chet Baker Ain't No Sunshine When You're Gone, Richard Harris Lament, Chet Baker http://www.myspace.com/pamela.olson.playwright/music/playlists#!/pamela.olson.playwright/music/pl aylists/rip-my-friend-pilot-jimmy-leeward-and-the-galloping-ghost-a-magnificent-p-51-3603051 I extend my deepest sympathies and condolences to all of the people and their families involved in or affected by this tragic accident. May all your storms be weathered, and all that is good get better. Some of the air racers have a flight systems telemetry set-up on board that transmits information on the aircraft's health and performance to its ground crew. The NTSB confirmed The Galloping Ghost had such a telemetry system that transmitted certain data to its ground in real time while the aircraft was in flight. The Board has already recovered those data which include engine operating parameters, plus GPS-derived position, altitude, and velocity. I remember well the chilling incident during the 1998 35th National Championship Air Races and Air Show in which a trim tab came off the P-51 racer Voodoo Chile. Voodoo Chile then pitched violently up and made a raging rapid climb, causing its pilot Bob Hannah to black out under a G load estimated at 10 Gs. Bob Hannah fortunately regained consciousness at 9,000 feet and was then able to land Racer 55 Voodoo Chile safely. Jimmy Leeward Pamela Olson's RIP Pilot Jimmy Leeward
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and The Galloping Ghost just didn't have that luxury of enough altitude.

The Galloping Ghost crash showered the first two VIP rows with lethal debris as it hit with an impact so savage it left only a crater 3 feet deep and 8 feet wide with very small pieces of itself ejected with lethal shrapnel force out a 100 yards or so around the sizable crater. That is the equivalent of an acre strewn with the crash's deadly debris.

Pamela Olson's RIP Pilot Jimmy Leeward

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Above these poles on the left with four boxes in a square on them are the spotlights surrounding then the Galloping Ghost crater. The taller poles to the right above with the three vertical boxes are speakers for the grandstands seating 23,000. The Reno-Stead Airport's tower is also to the right here above. The red and blue to the right is the VIP box seats for 400 extending out on the tarmac. The Galloping Ghost crash showered the first two VIP rows with lethal debris.

Pamela Olson's RIP Pilot Jimmy Leeward

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The VIP box seats are in front of the grandstands seating 23,000. The VIP box seats seating 400 extend out on the tarmac. The Galloping Ghost crash showered the first two VIP rows with lethal debris.

People's Memorial
to the horrific effects of the tragic Galloping Ghost crash

Pamela Olson's RIP Pilot Jimmy Leeward

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RIP Loved Ones and Friends

Pilot Jimmy Leeward
and

The Galloping Ghost, a Magnificent P-51

The 49th National Championship Air Races and Air Show is Sept. 12-16, 2012 See you at the air races to again support 'em as they fly low, fly fast, turn left.
Pamela Olson's RIP Pilot Jimmy Leeward
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http://www.scribd.com/doc/73041642/Hamilton-Field%E2%80%99s-1988-Wings-of-Victory-AirRaces Photography by Pamela Olson Copyright 2011 by Pamela Olson All rights reserved. All wrongs revenged. Savvy, mate?
Doc Sererinsen's There Is A Girl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjG0S6dc-sY

A graduate of College of Marin then Sonoma State University, in the middle of The American Wine Country, California USA, Planet Earth, Milky Way, Pamela Olson is A Marin County Volunteer of the Year, founding board member North Bay Multimedia Association, Home Designer, Raconteur, Gardener, Wife Time Traveler, Swimmer, Mama, USAF Veteran, Friend, Real Estate Authority, Ballroom Dancer, Color Junkie, Bon vivant, Professor, Author, and Landlord Extraordinaire aka opinionated.

May all your storms be weathered, and all that is good get better.

Pamela Olson's RIP Pilot Jimmy Leeward

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