P-510 Mustang 9555

• Airframe
• Mostly Recovered
• Timber Island, Lake Ontario

Date: 10-JUN-1952 Time:   Type:

North American Mustang IV Owner/operator: Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Registration: 9555 C/n / msn: 122-31332 Fatalities: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 Other fatalities: 0 Aircraft damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: ca 30 mi E of Trenton, ON –

Canada Phase: Unknown Nature: Military Departure airport: RCAF Trenton, ON/FIS   Flying Officer Barry Newman was conducting a high-altitude test in P-51 Mustang #9555.
Three sets of observers at three different locations witnessed the aircraft go into a high-speed vertical dive. At about 2,000 feet it appeared Newman regained some control and abruptly pulled out of the dive. The plane then flipped over and veered right, then lost its starboard wing. Now doomed, it plunged violently into the water, disintegrating just before and on impact. Newman had no time to bail out.
The rescue boat moved in quickly and recovered the wing, an oxygen tank, and some smaller fragments. Grappling later brought up the prop but nothing more. FO Newman’s remains, the fuselage and engine were never found. The Board of Inquiry determined that the probable cause was pilot anoxia due to a mechanical failure of the oxygen system at 20,000 feet.

Historical Photo Gallery #