Shades of the Flying Professor

"wkambic" wrote in message
oups.com...
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6a8_1179158388


That's quite a stunt.
About "The Flying Professor"; I knew Dick fairly well; in fact both Schrams
were great guys.
I was at Reading in 69 when Dick Sr went in in the J3. His son was on the
mike narrating Dick's show. Dick Jr was the PAO for the Blues as well.
I don't recall Dick ever doing a "stunt" like this one, but was one hell of
a fair stick with a J3.
He had "borrowed" the airplane he was killed in at Reading from a New Jersey
friend who had used the airplane the day before for a photo shoot and
forgotten to replace the cotter pin in the rear cockpit stick. The stick
came out in Dick's hand during a low altitude hammerhead and he went in from
the back side right in front of where Dick Jr. and I were standing on the
podium.
Sad day, and a real loss for the air show community.
The Navy named a chapel after Dick at Glenview NAS. I believe it's still
there.
In lectures and talks I've given on flight safety through the years, I've
used Dick's death as a strong reminder on the importance of pre-flight
inspection. Knowing him as I did, I'm certain he would want the accident to
be put to some kind of good use, and I also know that if one pilot I
lectured about preflight inspection was saved from an accident because of
it, Dick would be resting peacefully with that.
Dudley Henriques