Kiwi Warbirds pilot Wayne Edwards fatal crash in Latvia

[ErrolC]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/a...ectid=12087032

A Kiwi Warbirds and vintage pilot has been killed in Latvia after a plane he was flying crashed shortly after attending an air show.
Wayne Edwards of Puni, south of Auckland, was visiting a friend in Sweden, when they and another friend flew across the Baltic Sea to Latvia for an air show.
While they were returning to Sweden on Sunday night (NZ time), the three friends flying in separate planes, Edwards ran into trouble.
Speaking on behalf of the family, good friend John Baynes said the details about the crash were "sketchy" but it appeared there was a problem in Edwards' aircraft, a Bucker Jungmeister German WWII trainer.
He had to make a forced landing, but things "went wrong", said Baynes, a fellow aviation enthusiast.
The friends in Latvia phoned the news back to New Zealand immediately.
"It came as a huge shock," Baynes said.
Edwards, 50, is survived by his wife and two children.
"It has been a terrible tragedy, nobody believed it could happen," Baynes said.
"We all have the greatest respect for everything about him. The New Zealand aviation scene has lost a great mate."

[D1566]

Very sad news.

[Propstrike]

Awful to hear this, such sad news.

Coming at the same time as the Convair accident and the Mig21 in Romainia, it is a harsh reminder that the historic aircraft community sometimes pays a heavy price to see old aeroplanes in the air.

There are reports/pictures online but too graphic to post a link, clearly a very violent impact. The aeroplane was known in the UK, having been based at Turweston until quite recently.

[Tango Charlie]

Terribly sad. Myself and Planemike who posts here were at the very strip in Sweden a few week ago where the aircraft was based along with another 18 or so classics. We photographed most of the based aircraft including the accident machine RIP