Kevin Eldridge Bails out of the Super Corsair. Phoenix 500.

Kevin Eldridge Bails out of the Super Corsair at the first annual Phoenix Air races. Notice he turns the plane away from the airshow crowd and points the plane at the ground before bailing out. You can bet his butt was getting really hot judging from the intense flames. The Super Corsair exploded upon impact, a sad loss. Kevin had minor injuries, but he is fine today. Announcer is Sandy Sanders.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Kevin
• Eldridge
• Bails
• out
• Super
• Corsair
• Reno
• Airrace
• crash
• explosion
• fire
• engine
• failure

[isftish]

real pro and a hero. i believe all ww2 pilots were like this.

[360Freakoutkid]

fucking hero

[4Firearms]

The fire went out as soon as he went into a dive. He could have saved it. Just dove fast, put the fire out, and landed. Sessshhhh....That's how they do it in the movies!

[isftish]

@moto1p1 Soldier's Salute to your granddad. Wish I had the chance to talk to these heroes of the greatest generation.

[AMSeagle]

He is a Legend

[moto1p1]

@isftish Your comment put a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye!

My my grandfather flew P-47's & P-51's in ww2

[WTFFTW3567]

great balls of fire

[AKcharger]

I can't believe how fast he deployed his chute...as fast as a Martin baker or ACES 2!

[jeskelson123]

I was at this airshow with a "pit pass" I worked as an Engineer at the plant just east of the crash site. Ironically I was taking an EMT class locally and my instructor was first on scene for the pilot. If I remember correctly he had a broken leg and back. Damned good piloting skills keeping that priceless machine away from population. Kudos to the pilot.

[rhett443]

Glad to see he got out, You can almost feel the sigh of relief from the croud when they see that chute pop. Anyone have pictures of the wreckage?> I have always wanted to see what happens to a plane that nose dives.

[EclecticDiscus]

I was at that race, listening to Eldridge on the radio and watching through binoculars.

The guy was cool as a cucumber, knew he had to get the plane in a safe place to bail out. Just text book. Wonderful job by him and sad to see the Super corsair go in.

Having seen that you can only imagine how this happened several times a day during the war.

[WilhelmVonSchlagen]

We all know stuff happens. It could have been worse, but the pilot had it together. Yes, it's a shame to see a piece of history go down like that, but I feel far worse about all the ones at the bottom of the Pacific with their pilots. At least it was doing what it was built for, and wasn't lost in a museum fire, or rotting on a back lot, or sold for scrap in 1946.