Cousin Crashes Biplane; Dies
- Thread starter Tom_H
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Bird
Epic Contributor
I had already read that news report elsewhere, but didn't know he was related to any of our members. The family certainly has my sympathy.
Thomas
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Evening Tom.
Sorry for your loss...special prayers to the family....<________________> R.I.P.
Sorry for your loss...special prayers to the family....<________________> R.I.P.
Bluecheck546
Silver Member
Sorry about your loss. Me, loving an aircraft and working for the industry it hit home.... He died doing what he loved to do...
BR
BR
Kyle_in_Tex
Super Star Member
Thomas said:
You have my condolences. Jim LeRoy was one of the best in the stunt pilot world. He sure has awed many a spectator at some of the biggest airshows in the country.
ultrarunner
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Very sorry for your loss...
rox
Veteran Member
Tom H,
My deepest condolences for you and all of his family. By all accouts he certainly was a contributor.
My deepest condolences for you and all of his family. By all accouts he certainly was a contributor.
Jim's mom grew up in the same small south GA town that I did. She and my dad were 1st cousins. He and I were 2nd cousins. Jim's dad worked for NASA during Apollo, then became a pilot for United. Jim grew up in Chicago, but we'd see eath other occasionally at his grandfather's (my great uncle's) house when he visited. Jim had Minears (sp?) in the inner ear and couldn't become a combat pilot as he desired. He went into the Marines and was a sniper, then went back to school and earned a degree in Aeronautical Engineering. At his 10th high school reunion, he fell in love with the little girl he used to walk to school with in grammar school. After he and Joanie married, they moved to Modesto, CA where Jim managed a co-gen plant which used a jet turbine to generate electricity while the waste heat was pumped to the pulp mill next door. Being out in CA with all our families back east, we used to get together for birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas. He was very bored. After a surgical technique was developed to cure the Minear's Disease, Jim could finally pursue his real passion, aerobatics. The bulldog air show came about from their two pet bulldogs. Jim looked like a twin of my father's brother, who also crashed a biplane at age 19 (crushing his face), was shot down in a P-38 over the Adriatic, and crashed a fully loaded B-26 on takeoff, and survived it all. For decades, Joanie thought she couldn't have children, but unexpectedly, she became pregnant about 5 years ago. Joanie is now left with a precious little 4 year old boy who is the spitting image of his great-grandfather.
NTSB investigation will take awhile. My suspicion is that as he entered the bottom of the loop, the Gs increased more than he could take. 46 y.o. is pretty old to be pullin' that many Gs. I susect he blacked out, the stick drifted forward, and he didn't quite make the full loop.
NTSB investigation will take awhile. My suspicion is that as he entered the bottom of the loop, the Gs increased more than he could take. 46 y.o. is pretty old to be pullin' that many Gs. I susect he blacked out, the stick drifted forward, and he didn't quite make the full loop.