Heinkel He-111 crash in 2003

I started to visit the Commemorative Air Force museum down in Mesa, Arizona back in the mid 90's and one morning I walked inside and parked in their hanger was a Heinkel He-111. It was sitting back in a corner and nobody was around yet, so I climbed inside thru the side hatch. Mounted just inside the door was a MP-40...hmmm to fight off stowaways?.. I thought. I probably spent the best 20 minutes by myself inside that bomber and grabbed the dorsal mounted MG-131 and took several pictures. This CAF's aircraft was a Spanish built version of the He 111 and was officially designated a CASA 2111 and was purchased in England in 1977.

But on July 10th 2003, it was involved in a crash landing that ended fatally. This tragedy of a landing happened while attempting to land at Cheyenne Municipal Airport after flying from Midland, Texas. It was en-route to an air show in Missoula, Montana when the accident occurred.

Eyewitness accounts state the aircraft appeared to lose power in one engine while on its final approach to the airstrip and crashed through a chain fence. Following this, it then collided with a building (a school bus-washing business) that was undergoing construction. Sadly in this collision, the pilot, Neil R. Stamp and co-pilot, Charles S. Bates, were both killed in the crash and the aircraft was a total loss.

I talked to the Mesa museum later on about the crash and one employee said it was due to pilot error..not sure what the final FAA report said what caused the crash.

 

Accident CASA 2.111 (Heinkel He 111) N72615, 10 Jul 2003

The airplane was en route to an air show and was making a refueling stop. The tower controller cleared the pilot to land. The airplane was observed on a 3-mile straight-in final approach when it began a left turn. The controller asked the pilot what his intentions were. The pilot replied, "We just lost our left engine." The pilot then reported that he wasn't going to make it to the airport. Witnesses observed the airplane flying "low to the ground and under-speed for [a] good 4 minutes." The right propeller was turning, but the left propeller was not turning. There was no fire or smoke coming from the left engine. The pilot was "obviously trying to pull up." The airplane "dipped hard left," then struck the ground left wing first. It slid through a chain link fence, struck a parked automobile, and collided with a school bus wash barn. The ensuing fire destroyed the airplane, parked car, and wash barn. Disassembly and examination of both engines disclosed no anomalies that would have been causal or contributory to the accident. According to the Airplane Flight Manual, "Maximum power will probably be required to maintain flight with one engine inoperative. Maximum power at slow air speed may cause loss of directional control."
Probable Cause: A loss of engine power for reasons undetermined, and the pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control. Contributing factors were the unsuitable terrain on which to make a forced landing, low airspeed, the fence, automobile, and the school bus wash barn.

DEN03FA125


TD

 

I remember this. Seventeen years already? Wow the time flies. I recall being very heartbroken for the men killed and the loss of this warbird.

 

We had a B-17 from the CAS in our town and I happened to talk to the pilot about this. He said that the pilots in the HE-111 were fairly new and forgot they had to switch tanks before the first ones went dry. They didn't do that and the left engine ran out before the right one.

 

As I remember right..that CAF employee did mention something about they didn't switch their fuel tanks in time..no report of an engine fire..so that sounds like the main culprit.

 

Sad

 

That's sad I hate when old classic birds go down like the b17 crash, there's just so few old warbirds left. John Wayne when it was just a municipal airport I think a mustang club based there I saw at least a half dozen or more but only a couple were in military finish the others more for civilian use or maybe racers. I recently watched the crash report on that p51 crash at that race, NTSB report was the guy had over modified the plane to increase speed but failed to reenforce the structure for the increased stress and the structure failed. Also the guy failed to give faa details of modifications.