A Washington couple affiliated with the Cascade Warbirds, a group of vintage military aircraft owners and their supporters in the state, are missing and feared dead from the Friday afternoon crash at a Reno, Nev., air race.
A Washington couple affiliated with the Cascade Warbirds, a group of vintage military aircraft owners and their supporters in the state, are missing and feared dead from the Friday afternoon crash at a Reno, Nev., air race.
A 1940s-era plane, a P-51 Mustang, crashed into the crowd, killing the pilot and at least eight people on the ground and injuring dozens.
The Cascades Warbirds website posted a message from the head of the organization, Greg Anders, saying that the "crash at Reno was very near the Cascade Warbird box."
"The news does not sound good," Anders wrote.
Dave Desmon, a Cascade Warbirds executive officer and Boeing employee, was standing very close to the impact point and suffered minor injuries in the crash. Saturday, he was leading the organization's effort in Reno to account for all the members who were there.
At 3 p.m. Saturday, nearly 24 hours after the accident, Desmon said by phone from Reno that he was "still trying to ascertain" if any of his members are among the dead.
Pete Jackson, another member of the Warbirds in Reno, said "there were a few people who weren't necessarily in their original boxes at the time and no one has managed to make contact with them."
Later, Desmon said that a member of the Warbirds and his wife are still unaccounted for.
Injuries among the rest of the group included minor bruises, scrapes and cuts and also a broken foot, he said.
The Warbirds club, headquartered in Oak Harbor and with about 220 members, is dedicated to preserving World War II-era military aircraft and educating people about the history of the airplanes and to honor their role in winning the war.
Its members regularly fly at air shows, including displays this summer at Paine Field in Everett and in Olympia.
Michele Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Reno police and fire departments, said Saturday evening that in addition to the nine people known dead, at least 17 people were still being treated at area hospitals. At least 24 other people had been treated and released, Anderson said.
Names of the injured and dead will be released by the Reno Police Department and Washoe County Medical Examiner's Office as soon as identifications are certain and next of kin have been notified, Anderson said. Authorities don't know how long that will take, but it could be a matter of days, Anderson said.
Jean Baker, 81, lives in Sacramento but has a summer place on Center Island in the San Juans. He was at the air show with his son, Todd, when the crash occurred. The two were sitting in row 14 of the grandstands.
"He was heading right for us, full-bore," Baker told The Seattle Times. "Then he kind of barely managed to pull it up just a bit, and went right into the box stands. It was just absolutely awful. There were body parts lying all around."
Baker said he was about 75 feet from the point of impact. The plane's debris flew away from the grandstands, with the engine and propeller the biggest parts left, Baker said. "Everything else was just pieces," he said.
Baker, a retired vacuum-tube engineer, said he has been going to the Reno air show for about 30 years. He had previously seen pilots die in crashes, but never before witnessed a plane hitting the spectator stands.
"This is a real tragedy," Baker said. "This is terrible."
John Gogol, a former Warbirds club member now living in Portland, said the historic airplane community is close-knit. Gogol also knew the pilot killed Saturday morning in a separate air show accident in West Virginia.
"I haven't felt this bad since my dad died," Gogol said in an e-mail. "The aviation community is just pummeled."
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