ONE of the top restorers of classic aircraft was killed at last month’s EAA AirVenture 2007 at Oshkosh, USA.
He was Gerald Beck, from North Dakota, whose company, Tri-State Aviation, renovated and rebuilt warbirds.

Beck was fl ying his own P-51A Mustang which he had built using original plans and blueprints, when it was involved in a collision with another P-51D Mustang. The pilot of the other aircraft, a friend of Beck’s, was uninjured.

Accident investigators from the US National Transportation Safety Board have released its preliminary report, which simply says Beck’s aircraft hit the empennage and fuselage of the other aircraft that had just landed. Both Mustangs were part of a five-aircraft air race demonstration event at the air show.
W: www.ntsb.gov

SWISS long-distance ace Hans-Georg Schmidt was killed last month when his custom-built Express 2000 homebuilt hit a block of flats shortly after take-off from Basel, Switzerland. Schmidt, aged 59, was attempting to fly non-stop to the EAA AirVenture event at Oshkosh, USA and set a new transatlantic speed record. The aircraft was heavily laden with fuel. He held more than 160 flight records and had logged more than 16,000 fl ight hours during a 30-year flying career. Swiss accident investigators have yet to report on the crash.