The warbird and airshow community has lost another larger than life luminary, Sunday, with the untimely passing of F4U-4 Corsair Pilot Joe Tobul in an airshow accident.

Performing at the "Celebrate Freedom Festival" at the Columbia Owens Airport in South Carolina, Tobul reportedly suffered an engine failure, going down at approximately 1330, some one and a half miles off the end of Runway 31.

The impact was considerable and the aircraft caught fire, resulting in fatal injuries. Tragically, both Tobul's son and grandson were reportedly in the air, in preparation for a formation flight, when the Corsair went down. The planes were reportedly going to near the Dorn VA Medical Center in a tribute Tobul appropriate for those disabled vets who couldn't get to the airshow.

The airshow/airport was somewhat hampered over a few controversies involving noise abatement issues and a no-fly zone over a local coliseum, but reports indicate that the event was well-attended and well-run.

A local media report quoted a Tobul friend as saying, "I understand there was smoke coming out of the engine on a pass, as the plane came across the field for the air show. A lot of people thought it was air show smoke, but a Corsair doesn't have air show smoke. There's some kind of failure in the engine. It apparently got out the way of homes, trees, and put it in the swamp."

The Chance Vought F4U-4 Corsair (N713JT,  Bu#97143), named Korean War Hero, had retained three combat flak repair patches on the starboard wing and rear fuselage area. The aircraft served two tours of duty with over 200 combat missions, and was retired from Naval service on July 5, 1956. From approximately 1960 to 1970, the aircraft flew with the Honduran Air Force. 

In 1970, it was sold to an American Airline pilot and brought to the USA. Joe & Jim Tobul bought the airplane in 1981 and started a very long rebuilding project. Ten years later, Korean War Hero proudly flew again on December 8, 1991. Tobul's Corsair was involved in a previous accident when it was involved in a runway over-run. After a thorough rebuild, it got back in the air in 1999 and has been a major presence at airshows all over the country. 

The airshow continued after the accident, though no word of the fate of Tobul was reportedly released during the show. The three-day show attracted a reported crowd of 60,000-80,000 people.

Tobul, 68, was CEO of Tobul Accumulator, Inc., in Bamberg, SC, and lived in Santee. A memorial service has been scheduled for Monday morning at 11am.

ANN extends our prayers and respects to the many people who counted Joe Tobul as one of their own...

**   Report created 11/12/02   Record   **
IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 713JT        Make/Model: F4U-      Description: 1945 CHANCE VOUGHT CORSAIR
  Date: 11/10/2002     Time: 1830
  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Fatal     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Destroyed
LOCATION
  City: COLUMBIA   State: SC   Country: US
DESCRIPTION
  ACFT CRASHED UN\DER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES, ACFT WAS DESTROYED AND THE 1 POB   SUFFERED FATAL INJURIES, COLUMBIA,  SC
INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   1
                 # Crew:  1     Fat:   1     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
WEATHER: SPEC 1814Z AUTO  17008KT 10SM SCT028 24/19 A2989
OTHER DATA
  Activity: Unknown      Phase: Unknown      Operation: General Aviation
  Departed: COLUMBIA, SC                Dep Date: 11/10/2002   Dep. Time: 1825
  Destination: COLUMBIA, SC             Flt Plan: VFR          Wx Briefing: U
  Last Radio Cont: 1 SE COLUMBIA, SC
  Last Clearance: CLRD TO LAND
  FAA FSDO: COLUMBIA, SC  (SO13)                  Entry date: 11/12/2002

FMI: www.koreanwarhero.com