[maple_leaf_eh]

I suspect the P-63 flew into the B-17 completely unaware it was in his path. Banking, power on, speed rising to join a formation, no downward visibility, and another aircraft closing underneath. A lot of attention will be paid to the location of the show line, and the pre-show briefs.

In a very sad way of saying, perhaps it was for the best that the incident aircraft broke apart and all concerned died suddenly. No one for the lawyers to sue.

Vintage aircraft are a complicated subject in US civil aviation circles. Another B-17 operated by the Collings Foundation crashed a few years ago that was mechanically unsafe, it had half a dozen passengers along for an experience flight, and the aircrew weren't talking to each other very well. The pilot really wanted to get flying, and the maintainers weren't going to cross him or each other to say, 'that airplane can't fly on three engines no matter how much we want it to'. But, the public clamours to see them and the owners want to show their airplanes. The FAA can't easily order everything made before XXXX date to be grounded.