Aero Vintage Books

Hello,

My late father's picture is shown in this article: http://www.aerovintage.com/b25anec.htm

My memory may be failing me, but here is what I remember as happening (I was 13 years old at the time):

Roger Lopez had to do five complete stop landings at TURNERS FALLS airport & then do a cross country flight to Orange airport, to pick up the FAA inspector & get his check ride. Upon his first landing attempt, he had trimmed the B-25 for landing, and was on his final, when some kids started "hot dogging" on the runway with motorcycles. Roger applied full military power, but he forgot to remove the trim & the immense thrust from the two Pratt & Whitney engines forced the yoke back into his lap & he rolled over inverted & crashed. My late father (Bob Gardner, Sr.) was devastated by the crash & my late Grandmother (Lillian Gardner) asked me to console him. Later, after the wreckage had cooled, he brought me to Turners Falls airport, to help him salvage what was left of the plane to sell for scrap (it belonged to his warbird restoration corporation called The Damn Yankee Air Force, the name of which was an homage to the Confederate Air Force out in Texas). Later, he sued the FAA, using the late, famous, lawyer F. Lee Bailey for negligence for sending Roger up without a copilot. If Roger had had a copilot, when he saw the kids on the runway, he would have called out the go-around & the copilot should have remembered that the trim was set & removed it, thus preventing the crash. But the FAA prevailed, wrongfully, as it often does, and my father lost the lawsuit. Also, as a point of interest, the bomber was nicknamed "The Black Widow " or some such title, because it had been used as a jump plane & 13 skydivers had died we they jumped into the clouds near Lake Michigan, before my dad had bought the bomber, if I remember correctly.

Sincerely,

Bob Gardner

Hi Bob - I am Mark Perez and I am Roger Lopez's nephew. Although I was young, I remember your dad coming to my grandparent's farm in Northfield after the accident. I also remember how devastated your dad was. My grandmother always spoke well of your dad and how he treated our family. A couple things: My family has always heard rumors of another airplane on the runway but this is the first I have ever heard of Motorcyclists. I have spoken with two witnesses who tell me there was no one on the runway so I am not sure what to believe. I am wondering how sure you are about this. Also, I agree with you he should never have been flying a B-25 alone. I have spoken with several B-25 pilots and they all say it is a two person aircraft. Your theory about the trims makes perfect sense to me. I also never knew your dad sued the FAA with F Lee Bailey as his lawyer. I would love to learn more about that. Any chance you are still in the Western Mass area? I would love to meet with you sometime and chat about all these things. You can reach me at mark@eastmountaincc.com or at 413-530-1100

After speaking to Mark Perez, my post about the trim may have been wrong. Mark brought up the point that the left engine may have failed, causing Roger to apply full power to the right engine, thus flipping the aircraft. I maintain my contention that someone was "hot dogging" on the runway, causing Roger to do an unexpected,forced go-around. The greatest fault lies with the FAA for not allowing him to have a co-pilot. Mark pointed out that an engine failure REQUIRED a co-pilot to assist, to maintain control of the aircraft. My Dad sued the FAA for negligence, for FORCING Roger to fly without a co-pilot. A co-pilot was NOT a passener; he was an essential part of the flight crew. If anyone wants to sue the FAA again about this TRADEGY, please contact me.