[t6dpilot]

Tabs, heart attack could have been it for sure. Unfortunately, no one will know. We lost a very experienced and well liked Mustang pilot at Oshkosh in '05 - a good friend of our Midwest Warbird community (in his 70's I think). I was there with the P-40. We were all holding in different locations to do our "strafing" runs. We finish with the airshow and are told upon landing that one of the Mustangs is missing. It was our friend - basically went straight in, so not much left. He was in the #4 position and no one saw him depart the flight. He was a very conservative pilot and the only thing we can think of is a medical issue.

Another of our MW friends crashed in IN. Another older fellow was up practicing stalls and stuff - up high because a Mustang can burn up 1500' fast in a full stall, drop a wing condition. We think medical.

Similiar thing happened many years ago to our NATA T6 airshow leader. He was flying formation with another 'six and suddenly pitched up and went in without contact. We all figured a medical issue, but in these instances, you will never know. Sadly, he took a passenger with him. Medical could be a cause/factor in all of these, but we will never know.

The P-40 that crashed is not the one to which you refer, Tabs. I think that one came out of MN or crashed in MN - something like that. I vaguely remember that deal. IIRC, that was a P-40 that had been restored, but not to the standard that a lot of these birds are today. The one to which I am referring had terrible overheating problems and it ended up in a field shortly after a newish owner purchased it. Not sure if it was the same one, but there aren't that many around, so I bet it is.