Probe Predicted to Show Pilot Blacked Out

A federal investigation being awaited after the crash of a World War II era P-51 fighter at a Reno air race last week will show that the pilot blacked out and was unconscious at the stick when his plane slammed into the viewing stands, killing 11 and injuring more than 50, according to a veteran pilot and longtime Fieg family friend.

Bob "Punchy" Powell in his D-model Mustang, his second P-51
of the war. 

"He never knew what hit him," said Robert "Punchy" Powell, 90, of Atlanta, who was personally acquainted with the downed flyer,  Jimmy Leeland, 74.  Leeland and his plane, a type of fighter which Powell and the late Lothar "Bud" Fieg flew during World War II, are now the subjects of an intense investigation by the National Aviation and Transportation Safety Board.

Officials say results of the probe will take weeks because the plane virtually disintegrated into thousands of pieces on impact, many of which impaled members of the audience.

"He went into a high-speed dive, pulling 8-11 G's which caused him to black out," Punchy said. "Photographs show him slumped over," Powell said.

Under the stress as described, a 200-pound man would weigh 2,000 pounds and need to endure the weight plus resulting loss of blood to the brain.

Punchy consulted numerous eye-witnesses and exchanged information with other veteran fliers before blaming the crash on the failure of the plane's "elevator trim tab," a leveling mechanism attached to the tail. The trim tab was not built to withstand heavy gravitational exertion caused by radical modifications to Leeland's fuselage, wings and engine to achieve speeds in excess of 500 mph, a velocity that exceeded the original plane's limitations by more than 200 miles per hour, Punchy said.

Punchy, who bunked with Bud during their service with the 8th Army Air Force in England from 1942-45, is a former Air Force test pilot and veteran of 87 combat missions.   About two dozen of those missions, mostly over Nazi-occupied France and Holland, were flown alongside Bud.  The two primarily flew P-47s and later P-51s such as the one that crashed in Reno.

Punchy got his first P-51 after Bud took up Punchy's P-47 for a test flight and it caught fire. Bud bailed out and that was the end of that. Punchy's second P-51, a D-model, was given to him after his first one caught fire and he crashed it in an English potato field.

At the end of the war Punchy, then a lieutenant, and Bud, then a captain, separated from the Army but Punchy returned to the Air Force at the outbreak of the Korean War.  With service as a test pilot, he has flown more than 22 types of aircraft, including the B-25 carrier bomber.  After Korea he retired with the rank of captain.

Punchy is the author of "Blue Noser Tales," a book about the 328th Squadron of the 352nd Fighter Group in which he and Bud flew.  He called the P-51 arguably the best all-around fighter produced during the war; only a few dozen remain airborne today. Known as Mustangs, the propeller hubs of the P-51s of  Punchy's and Bud's unit were painted blue, hence the name "Blue Nosers."

The 352nd was one of the most successful in the war, having been credited with downing or destroying 776 German aircraft, including 554 in the air, among them 11 newly-developed German jets with far greater acceleration and climbing power than the P-51.  Seven German planes were destroyed for every one lost in the 352nd. 



The 352nd counted among their numbers 29 aces, including George Preddy of Greensboro, NC,  who has a street named for him in his hometown.   He had 24 victories and probably would have gone on to become the top ace of the war but he was killed while chasing three ME-109s at tree-top level, two of which he shot down before he was caught in friendly fire by ground units who had been awaiting the Germans and fired at the third.

Powell is the winner of some 10 service ribbons including a coveted French decoration for his participation in the historic D-Day invasion that marked the beginning of the fall of Europe. He also holds the Air Medal with three oak clusters, the Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaves and two presidential unit citations, both of which he shares with Bud.

One of Punchy's and Bud's presidential citations was awarded for a single day's engagement, when 38 enemy aircraft were destroyed. Powell is also credited with air and ground victories in which he destroyed six enemy aircraft, among them an ME-110 fighter and an HE-177 bomber plus two "probables" and seven damaged.

Bud won the Air Medal eight times and the Distinguished Flying Cross twice, plus the Victory Medal and other decorations.  He is credited with destroying an ME-109 in the air plus four planes on the ground, including a bomber.

Powell earned the nickname "Punchy" after winning the West Virginia Golden Gloves Flyweight Championship in 1937. He currently maintains a small aviation museum in his home, with the numbers of visitors there approaching 200.

His story of helping Bud approach the former Catherine Shafer of Oneonta with a marriage proposal is legend in the family lore.  Bud, who is remembered by Punchy as being painfully shy, thought of Punchy as something of a ladies' man and asked his advice on how to approach Catherine when he returned to Oneonta on leave in 1944, because he had never as much as even held hands with her.

"I told him when he sees her and she puts out her hand, just ignore that and give her a hug and a big kiss,"  Punchy recalled.  "He came back and said, 'Punchy, it was just like you said, and it worked.  I'm engaged."

(To see a brief review of the publication or to purchase a copy of Punchy's book "Blue Noser Tales" for $25 per copy, a special discount to any family members of veterans who flew in the 328th., go to: http://www.hyperscale.com/2007/reviews/books/bluenosertalespreview_1.htm    He is currently working on a memoir and can be contacted at 404-636-3747 or bluenoserbob2@juno.com  or bluenoserbob@352ndfightergroup.com.)