Berlin Express Lost Its Canopy, Miss Velma Made Off-Airport Landing

Two U.S. P-51 Mustangs involved in the Duxford Flying Legends Air Show over the weekend, but fortunately both pilots were uninjured in the incidents.

Writing on the Air Show Stuff message board online, Ryan Sundheimer said that the P-51D Berlin Express appeared to have lost its canopy during its performance Sunday. The airplane was flown across the Atlantic Ocean to perform at the Flying Legends Air Show.

Sundheimer says that images posted to Flickr (flic.kr/p/VYeszs) show that the tail of the Berlin Express was damaged when the canopy detached from the airplane, and it was not known how long it would be unable to fly. Nick Gray was reportedly the pilot at the time of the incident. He was able to land the airplane safely.

Meanwhile, another P-51D, Miss Velma, reportedly suffered an engine problem during the same show Sunday and was forced to make an off-airport landing  in a field near the airport, but the pilot of that aircraft also walked away.

The U.K. newspaper The Sun reports that, according to a spokesman for Imperial War Museums (IMW) Duxford, "a P-51 Mustang made an emergency landing during the Flying Legends Air Show on Sunday 9 July, in a field adjacent to IWM Duxford.

“The pilot is safe and no members of the public were involved in the incident."

The pilot managed to steer the airplane away from the busy M11 highway and bring the airplane down in the field. The highway was closed for a time while authorities investigated the accident.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.airshowstuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=251