A Tragic Loss

Last evening, I received the terrible news that a locally owned Curtiss P-40 had crashed in the ocean just off the beach at Smith’s Point park. Its pilot, Robert Baranaskas, was killed.

I met Bob Baranaskas and his son Chris back in October of 2007 at a local air show. Bob owned several World War II aircraft, a North American AT-6 Advanced Trainer, a beautiful North American P-51D Mustang, and a recently restored Curtiss P-40. Bob kept his aircraft at the Brookhaven airport (where the air show took place). Typically, Bob would fly the P-40 and Chris piloted the P-51 during flight demonstrations.

My conversations with Bob were brief, focused on his aircraft. He was an affable gentleman, showing a great love for these vintage fighters, which he restored and maintained at great personal expense. I had the opportunity to shoot many photos of Bob’s fighters thanks to having good access to them. Both the P-40 and P-51 were maintained in perfect condition. Bob’s death was a shock. He was a careful and smart pilot. Several years ago, he safely landed his P-40 in a cornfield when he found his controls jammed. A combination of skill and luck prevented injury and damage.

Details of what happened yesterday are in short supply. The NTSB is scheduled to begin an investigation today. Chris was on the beach spotting for his father, in radio contact. He watched the P-40 crash into the sea. I cannot image his horror. Witnesses said the P-40 climbed vertically, then snapped over into a spiral, corkscrewing down into the ocean. I’m certain that further details will be released as the investigation develops. At this point, this is all I know about the accident.

There is much that I do know about the Curtiss P-40 aircraft. I will not go into the history of the aircraft in any depth, as this can be found on the web. I will tell you that the P-40 was a development of the pre-war P-36. Curtiss replaced the air-cooled radial engine of the P-36 with an Allison V-1710 V12 engine and the resulting aircraft was designated the XP-40 by the Army Air Corps (the Air Force didn’t have independent status from the Army until September of 1947).

Many versions of the fighter were produced until manufacturing ceased in 1944. It was not a world class fighter when the U.S. entered the war in December of 1941, but is was adequate. It saw extensive combat in every theater of the war. An export version of the early P-40 (named the Tomahawk) equipped the famous Flying Tigers, who battled the Japanese while flying for Nationalist China. A significant number were sent via Lend Lease to the Soviet Union, where the need for fighters was desperate in the fight to stop the German advance.

P-40s and P-39s held the line against the enemy through the autumn of 1942, when they began to be supplemented by increasing numbers of newer and more capable fighters. Even after it was obvious that the P-40 was well past its prime, the were used effectively as tactical fighters. In this capacity, they soldiered on for another two years, leaving the air combat role to the new machines.

There were more than a few fighter pilots who were not pleased to turn in their rugged and reliable P-40s for the new, higher performance fighters that were arriving overseas in vast quantities.

Bob’s Curtiss was a P-40E model. This model began entering service prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Bob's P-40E was painted in the correct color scheme and national markings for that time period.

P-40s were well liked because they had no serious vices under most flight conditions. Early short fuselage models were prone to ground looping (basically, a spin-out on the ground), so pilots had to be quick on the rudder pedals and most would hold the tail wheel off the runway for as long as possible. Stall behavior was considered benign in simple stalls. Accelerated stalls and nose high stalls revealed a vicious departure into a violent spin.

Before his death several years ago, I was a friend of Erik Shilling. Erik was one of the Flying Tigers (AVG, American Volunteer Group) and an Army Test Pilot at Langley Field in the years immediately preceding WWII. Few pilots had more experience flying the P-40, and even fewer had Shilling’s piloting skill level. Erik wrote about the P-40’s departure characteristics.

“Spin recovery for the P-36 was the standard NACA recovery. Flat spin recovery was pro spin: full aileron into the spin, stick full back, and rudder into the spin. When the nose dropped and normal spin developed, standard NACA recovery was used.

However, the P-40 had a vicious tumble if a stall was entered into at a nose high position of about 60 degrees above the horizon. To recover from the tumble you reduced power and went along for the ride with all controls in neutral. After about 12,000 feet the nose settled into a vertical dive from which recovery was normal.”

In a conversation with Erik in 1997, he described the P-40’s accelerated stall behavior.

“One thing you never wanted to do was push the P-40 into an accelerated stall below 10,000 feet. I learned this the hard way. I was flying near 8,000 feet and rolled into a hard left turn. I pulled too much elevator and the P-40 abruptly snap-rolled into an oscillating nose high, nose low departure. Any attempted to counter the oscillation only increased its violence. Realizing that I was only making the situation worse, I pulled off the power, centered the stick and rudder and let the P-40 find its own balance. After what seemed like minutes, the oscillation self-damped and the P-40 settled into a left-hand spin. I countered the spin, adding in right rudder to stop the rotation. Once stabilized, I pulled out barely 100 feet above the ground.”

Based upon the reports of witnesses to Bob’s crash, it seems that on the face of it, he may have stalled his P-40 with the nose well above the horizon. At typical air show altitude, there simply will not be enough height above the ground to recover in time.

This is really speculation. If he did stall, why? Did he lose power while nose high? Was there some other yet undefined malfunction? Was there a sudden, serious medical issue that prevented Bob from flying the airplane? I can’t answer those questions and will have to wait until the NTSB releases some preliminary findings. If Bob was in radio contact with Chris immediately before the accident, Chris may have insight into what went wrong.

In the interim, there is nothing anyone can do but mourn Bob’s death and offer prayers of support for his family.

Bob will be missed here, he was well known and well liked. God speed Bob, God speed.