Bearcat Accident in Breckenridge, TX

[Bomber_12th]

There's some tragic news coming out of Breckenridge, TX at the moment, about a Bearcat having crashed shortly after take-off, resulting in the death of the pilot. The pilot's name has been posted on another forum, but I will refrain until it is actually confirmed/published as fact, though it is all quite a shock.

http://www.kwes.com/story/17335559/west-texas-pilot-killed-shortly-after-takeoff

[Bomber_12th]

Well, as it is now getting out to the news people, I guess it is worth mentioning now that Howard Pardue was the pilot killed. I'd expect most here to have heard of Howard Pardue, or have even seen him fly, either at Reno, or at Oshkosh, or at other shows around the U.S, usually in his Bearcat, or his Sea Fury, or his Wildcat. He's been an icon in the world of warbirds for decades (back to the 60's/70's), and it makes it even more of a shock and very sad to hear of today's events.

[TARPSBird]

RIP Mr. Pardue. That was a good looking F8F, with the fuselage stripe as part of the national insignia.

62426

[IFlySWA]

Very sad. :frown: I've seen Howard many times flying his Bearcat. He could really put on a show with her. Rest in peace Howard.

Brian

[Bradburger]

Sad News.


http://youtu.be/BURpV8FxE38

I've seen him several times at Flying Legends where he usually flew the TFC Hellcat or Wildcat.

Cheers

Paul

[Bomber_12th]

Thank you for posting that, Paul (and it is great to see you posting too!). I had forgotten about his past participation at Flying Legends as well. Howard Pardue was one of the very first firgures I ever heard of when I was a kid, getting interested in warbirds and the CAF, right up there with others like Lefty Gardner, Ed Maloney, Nelson Ezell, etc. It was a real pleasure to finally see him, first hand, perform his Bearcat demo a few years back at Oshkosh, something that was sort of a dream of mine for many years. As someone commented elsewhere, "Howard was one of those larger than life figures that you thought would live forever," I would have to fully agree with that.

[patful]

This is awful. I finally got to see him flying Kimberly Brooke last October at Sheppard, making several passes right over my house. Sick to my stomach. RIP Mr. Pardue.

[Wittpilot]

I am not sure which bothers me more. The fact that as these aircraft age, and experienced pilots dwindle, we may begin to see more incidents. Or the fact that the mentality of politicians and media-ites will take every opportunity to shut down our hobby all together.

Accidents like these are unfortunately a part of the hobby. Hopefully we are able to learn from any mistakes made, or mechanical problems found, and apply them to our hobby increasing safety even more. That being said, I do not think we as a community could have another year like last year again....

-witt

[rdaniell]

Wasn't there a pilot by the name of "Corky" Fornof (not sure of last name) who also flew a bearcat years ago. I saw him perform at Naval Air Station, Albany, Georgia, back in 1975.

RD

[PRB]

Very tragic news. He has been around as long as I've been watching air shows. Seen him many times. A great loss.

[Daveroo]

trerrible news....i too was honoured to see Mr Purdue fly his bearcat in person,what a loss to not only the warbird community but to the aviation world in general

[Wittpilot]

Wasn't there a pilot by the name of "Corky" Fornof (not sure of last name) who also flew a bearcat years ago. I saw him perform at Naval Air Station, Albany, Georgia, back in 1975.

RD

You'd be correct.... I met him last year at our fly-in at our local airport. He flew the airplane in that picture.

http://www.generalaviationnews.com/2009/10/26/corkey-fornofs-high-flying-career/

[rdaniell]

You'd be correct.... I met him last year at our fly-in at our local airport. He flew the airplane in that picture.
http://www.generalaviationnews.com/2009/10/26/corkey-fornofs-high-flying-career/

Thanks Witt. I saw him fly the airplane in your attached photo down at Sun-and-Fun in 2008. Put on quite a show.

RD

[StormILM]

I saw Howard fly in person more than once. Terrible news.....

:engel016: R.I.P Sir.:salute::engel016:

[Duckie]

Wasn't there a pilot by the name of "Corky" Fornof (not sure of last name) who also flew a bearcat years ago. I saw him perform at Naval Air Station, Albany, Georgia, back in 1975.

RD

Really sorry to hear about Mr. Pardue. RIP.

I had the pleasure of seeing Bill and son Corky Fornoff fly together at the Blue Angels 25th Anniversary show (1971?) (dating myself) in Pensacola, not long before Bill himself was killed in the crash of his F8F. Bill was in the "family" F8F and Corky in the P-51D, both aircraft in Bill's favorite color of "16 hand rubbed coats of Cadillac Bronz."

[TARPSBird]

Duckie, I first saw "Wild Bill" Fornof at the NAS Glenview air show around 1965. His bronze F8F was a beautiful plane and so well tuned, you could stand next to it at idle and it was just tick-tick-tick until he throttled up. If anybody can do a perfect 16-point roll closer to the ground than Bill did, I haven't seen their act yet. Don't mean to hijack the thread from Mr. Pardue's passing, just thought I'd chime in since we're talking F8F's.

[StormILM]

After hearing this tragic news this evening, I realized I had a pair of patches that Howard Pardue gave me years ago. I located the patches and took this photo a little while ago:

62443

Never parting with these!

:engel016:

[stansdds]

Holy cow! Howard Pardue? Sorry to see him go, especially in this manner. :(

[Smashing Time]

He was still racing at Reno with quite impressive numbers in his Bearcat only a couple years ago:
I always heard his name on talked about by the announcers.
http://reports.airrace.org/2009/2009.Pilot.pardu5.Report.html

One thing can be said, his death was fast and he was doing what he loved. :salute: