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."
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."
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