Wittman Racer

The article on Steve Wittman's racer in the April 2001 issue was very interesting. I would like to elaborate a bit on this accident during the Los Angeles air races. Incidentally, he did not land on top of an A-17 as stated in your article. The Air Corps had a row of A-17s lined up wingtip to wingtip on the eastern boundary of the field, facing west. I was standing near them when the incident occurred.

At the end of the race, Steve ran out of gas just as he roared across the east end of the field. In a beautiful bit of flying, he used his momentum to pull up in a steep climb, do a wing-over and dive back to the field. As he sailed across the end of the field heading west, it appeared that he would make a nice dead-stick landing on the field. Unfortunately, his right wheel hit a vertical propeller blade on one of the A-17s and snapped off the landing gear leg. Amazingly, the racer did not ground loop or flip end over end.

I was able to take the enclosed photo about 15 minutes after the accident.

Ray Brasher

606 Picasso Terrace

Sunnyvale, CA

94087

Copyright Challenge Publications Inc. Jul 2001
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