Many deaths in the aviation world this year

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On March 12, 2011 the husband and wife wing-walking team of Kyle and Amanda Franklin crash-landed at an airshow. Both were injured, but while Kyle recovered Amanda was badly burned and died two months later (May 27) from her injuries. Both were children of legendary air-show performers whose fathers had both died in a mid-air collision at an airshow in 2005.

On May 20, 2011 the World War One aviation scholar Dan-San Abbott (a regular at The Aerodrome web site dedicated to the pilots and aircraft of those times) died after a short illness. He had replied to some of my posts there (along with countless others of other people over the years).

On June 4, 2011 Alex Imrie passed on. He was one of the last links to the pilots and aircraft of the First World War. He had personal contacts with many of the survivors (until they were gone) and had a vast collection of documents and photographs from that time. He was an expert on and wrote a book about the Fokker Triplane aircraft, one of my all-time favorite aircraft.

Last Saturday (August 20) Jon Egging, "Red 4" of the Red Arrows aerobatic team, died during an airshow in England. Saturday afternoon (August 20), Bryan Jensen, a personal friend of Kyle Franklin (see the first entry), crashed and died in his stunt biplane at a Kansas City air show. Then on Sunday Todd Green, another personal friend and former stunt partner of Kyle and Amanda Franklin, fell 200 feet to his death when attempting a mid-air transfer from the top of a biplane's wing to the bottom of a helicopter at an airshow in Michigan. He had performed that stunt many times before, including the previous day. Todd Green was the son of legendary stunt-pilot Eddie "The Grip" Green.

So the community of World War One aviation historians and the air show community have had great losses this year. My heart goes out to all who knew and loved them.