Photo courtesy of Kevin Porter, who took this shot of N1662 in 2014.
We just lost American Aviation Great Bob Hoover, and now we have lost another American Aviation Giant, Ron Alexander, active member of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) VAA (Vintage Aircraft Association) Board. He and his passenger, an FAA official, were killed in Ron’s vintage Jenny JN-4D: (Shown above in photo by Kevin Porter), the same plane developed and perfected here in Columbus, NM a century ago during the Punitive Expedition’s 1st use of an American military airplane in a sustained combat environment.
The airplane, FAA number N1662, has been featured before on this FASF site’s pages. The fiery accident occurred near Mr. Alexander’s own Peach State Aerodrome, Williamson, GA shortly after Mr. Alexander took off in the Jenny. The pilot’s Candler Museum is one of the few existing that are exclusively dedicated to vintage airplanes. One of its featured aircraft was the same N1662 Jenny involved in Thursday’s crash.
Immediately below is a short (50 second) video of this same Jenny landing at Peach State:
Other news stories about this tragedy, which include more detail, may be found by clicking on the following links:
AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association).
Our heartfelt condolences go out to the Alexander family and to the many, many aviation enthusiasts and others who were privileged to have known this “Quiet Giant of Aviation.”