News link & pix
http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20090309/NEWS01/903090344/1006/NEWS01
Fair use excerpt:
By JOEL LANDAU
Gannett New Jersey
A longtime pilot of World War II aircraft was critically burned after one of his plane's wings burst into flames after takeoff at Millville Airport, forcing a dramatic emergency landing and escape.
Terry Rush, 63, of Cherry Hill was in critical but stable condition Sunday at Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland, Pa., a nursing supervisor said. Police said the injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.
After the crash Saturday evening, the charred, twisted remains of the blue and white Grumman TBM Avenger were taken to Bianco Bros. in Bridgeton.
The single-seat torpedo bomber was featured in last year's Wheels & Warbirds Airshow in Millville that Rush, a local airplane mechanic, helped coordinate.
State police and firefighters rushed to the airport about 5 p.m. Saturday after the fiery emergency landing. Rush had taken off from runway 28 and was beginning to enter a flight pattern when he realized his left wing was ablaze, police said.
Rush turned the around plane and landed on a small patch of grass, police said. Rush escaped from the cockpit, got onto the wing and jumped off the plane -- which was fully engulfed in flames -- as it slowly rolled toward the runway, police said. The aircraft rolled to a stop on the runway.
Rush suffered second- and third-degree burns on the left side of his chest and both hands. He was taken by medical helicopter to Cooper University Hospital in Camden and then transferred to Crozer-Chester, which specializes in burn cases.
No one on the ground was injured.
------------------------------------------
Sad, One of several warbirds, hangared at MIV, others include B-25 , P-47 owned by Tom Duffy (Claire Aviation).
John