Today in History – September 2, 1966 – Blue Angels lose F-11A Angel 5.

2 September 1966 – A USN Grumman F-11A Tiger, BuNo 141764, of the Blue Angels aerobatic team, Blue Angel 5, crashes on the shore of Lake Ontario during the International Air Exhibition at Toronto, Canada. The pilot, Lieutenant Commander Richard “Dick” Oliver, 31 years old, of Fort Mill, South Carolina, is killed.

Coming out of a knife-edge pass, followed by a roll, Number 5 contacts the lake surface at ~500 mph and literally skis across the surface, striking a six-foot-high sheet steel piling retaining wall on the edge of Toronto Island Airport and disintegrating. The wreckage (turbine) is thrown as far as 3,483.6 feet from point of initial impact. (1)

Source: Wikipedia/Portal:Aviation

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