Two Lost In Mishap

ANN REALTIME Update, 1828 EST, 06.16.05: Two people died Thursday when the PT-26 Cornell they were flying went down shortly after take-off from an airport in Pike County, Georgia.

Pike County fire officials said the aircraft had just departed Peach State Field.

The aircraft, built in 1940, was reportedly owned by the Commemorative Air Force. The identities of those lost have not yet been released, pending notification of next-of-kin. The FAA and NTSB are investigating the accident.

The PT-26 is a canopied version of the open-cockpit PT-19 Cornell developed by Fairchild in 1938. Designed as a rugged monoplane primary trainer, the PT-19 went into quantity production for the Army Air Corps in 1940. In 1942, the Army Air Forces (AAF) ordered the PT-26 into production for the Royal Canadian Air Force under the Lend-Lease Program. A total of more than 1,700 PT-26s were produced in the US by Fairchild and in Canada by Fleet Aircraft, Ltd.

The PT-26, like the PT-19, used a Ranger air-cooled, in-line engine. A third Cornell variant, the open-cockpit PT-23, was very similar to the PT-19 and PT-26, but was powered by a Continental air-cooled radial engine. By the time Cornell production came to an end, approximately 7,700 PT-19s, PT-23s, and PT-26s had been built under AAF contracts.

Updated CAF Statement

A Commemorative Air Force (CAF) operated single-engine World War II training aircraft, a Fairchild PT-26 Cornell, N26GA, was involved in an accident approximately 11:30 a.m. EDST, Thursday, June 16, 2005.

The aircraft departed Falcon Field, Peach Tree City, Ga., approximately 10:30 a.m. EDST. Some time during the next hour it landed at the nearby Peach State Airport in Williamson, Ga. After landing, the pilot repositioned the airplane for takeoff. Immediately after take off the airplane struck a tree and crashed, fatally injuring the pilot, James Ford, age 67, of Marietta, Ga., and passenger, Robert Lang, age 58, of Marietta, Ga.

Both Ford and Lang were CAF members. Ford, was a retired pilot for Delta Airlines and had over 20,000 flying hours. He was an instructor and a check pilot in the PT-26. Lang was a flight and safety systems engineer for Lockheed Martin. He was a U.S. Air Force veteran and had flown F-105s and F-4s. He was also a flight instructor for the Lockheed Martin Flying Club.

The airplane is assigned to the Dixie Wing of the CAF, which is based in Peach Tree City, Ga. The Dixie Wing's 225 members also maintain and fly the CAF's P-51 Mustang, SBD Dauntless Dive Bomber and C-45 Expeditor. A T-6 Texan and P-63 Kingcobra are under restoration by the Dixie Wing.

The PT-26 is a modified PT-19 with enclosed cockpits to enable the airplane to be used for training during cold weather. It also has a larger engine and electrical system, better instrumentation and a capability for easier starting in cold weather. The Dixie Wing's assigned PT-26 was manufactured in 1943.

The CAF maintains a total of six PT-26s.  Four are currently flying - one is based in Albuquerque, N.M., two are in Brownsville, Texas,  and the other in Anderson, Ind.

The CAF is a nonprofit organization dedicated to flying and restoring vintage aircraft. Headquartered in Midland, Texas, the organization has over 9,500 members and operates a fleet of 154 World War II aircraft .

The FAA and the NTSB are investigating the accident.

FMI: www.commemorativeairforce.org, www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/annex/an24.htm, www.ntsb.gov