CAF Releases Aircrew Names Of ‘Wings Over Dallas’ Airshow Crash

I'm sure most of you have seen the horrific crash by now that happened this past Saturday, November 12 at the Wings Over Dallas World War II airshow. Today the Commemorative Air Force released the names of the men lost in that accident. 

CAF President, Hank Coates sent out the names and ways to help the families today and I wanted to make sure you have that information at hand in case you wanted to help in any way.

B-17 Texas Raiders Aircrew:

Terry Barker - Keller, Texas

Kevin "K5" Michels - Austin, Texas

Dan Ragan - Dallas, Texas

Leonard "Len" Root - Fort Worth, Texas

Curt Rowe - Halliard, Ohio

P-63 Kingcorba Pilot:

Craig Hutain - Montgomery, Texas

There will be no speculation on my part as to who may be at fault for the loss of these men and these WWII aircraft,  we should let the NTSB do its job and figure that out. For now, there are ways you can help if you feel the calling:

To donate, please go to airshowfoundation.org/support/, select “Donation in honor or memory of an individual” and type “CAF” as the “Name of Memorialized”. 100% of the money collected through this effort will be provided to the families as emergency funding, with all received funds being split equally amongst those families impacted.

This is such a personal tragedy for me because of my own relationship with that particular B-17 Bomber named Texas Raiders, she and I had a secret love affair for over 35 years. It's true!

She was my first... the first WWII airplane I ever flew in. That fine lady above and in the pics below may have been my first but she wasn't anywhere near my last. She was the beginning of my love for aviation and WWII aircraft in general. In fact, I loved her so much, I flew with her twice. She's the reason I do reports titled "Just Plane Nuts." I have also had the pleasure of flying in a Stearman Biplane and three different AT-6 Texans. The last one I didn't just fly in it, I piloted it and performed aerobatics in it for an hour. Best birthday present ever! Ever!

The pictures here are from the Texas Raider's visit to Texarkana Airport in September 2016. I have many that are much older, just not sure where they are right now.

My love for these aircraft will never die, nor will my admiration for the men and women who give up time and skills to keep them flying. Lift them and their families in your prayers, and help them if you can. This community that keeps these warbirds in the air is a pretty small group, everybody kind of knows everybody, this will be a hard one to get over. God bless them all.

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