Two Legends Lost

[Dan McEntee]

  I was alerted by Wayne Willey last night that noted war bird re builder and air show pilot Bop Odegaard was killed yesterday while flying the blue #74 F2G Super Corsair in practice for a weekend air show in Fargo, ND. Apparently from first eye witness accounts, the airplane failed to pull out at the bottom of a loop. I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Mr. Odegaard on several occasions and watched him fly both of the Super Corsairs. This past summer at Oshkosh he paid tribute to Bob Hoover by duplicating Hoover twin dead engine "Energy Management Maneuver" in a Shrike Commander and completed the whole schedule by doing a loop, roll, turn to final approach, landing and roll out to airshow center parking spot, all dead stick. A huge loss of a fine human being and a legendary airplane.
   Good Speed Bob Odegaard,
    Dan  McEntee

[Douglas Ames]

  I'm speechless...What a loss of man and machine.

[Bill Heher]

Sad,what a tragedey for the aviation community. I grew up in N.D., and saw him fly multiple times. as the article in the link below says- " If it had wings he could fly it, if it had an engine he could fix it."

Another loss that can never be replaced- God Speed Bob, heaven can't wait to receive you.

http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/68604/

[Rafael Gonzalez]

A big loss to the community.
 Farewell white eagle. Now you will fly among all the angels

[wwwarbird]

 I was lucky enough to see Race #74 at Oshkosh this year. Even though it was way before my time, just walking around the Super Corsair and admiring it made me feel like I'd time traveled back to 1947. Elevating the cool factor to the max was the fact that it wasn't just a replica paint job, it was the original Race #74.

 As an absolute Warbird lover, very hard to see it gone.

 Some history here:   http://www.airrace.com/corsair74.htm

[Mike Keville]

Aw, this is just terrible news.  Now let's just hope Race 57 (pictured) survives.....the last of the flyable F2G series?

[wwwarbird]

.....the last of the flyable F2G series?

 That would be correct.

[john e. holliday]

Loss of a great pilot and a peice of history.  So sad.

[Dan Bregar]

Yes it is very sad.  I was fortunate to see this beautiful bird last year at Reno.  Was lookin forward to seeing it again this year.  #57 will probably be there, but it was really cool to see them both together. 

[Serge_Krauss]

Very, very sad again to lose one of the very brave and skilled as well as a true classic. He and his passion for planes are remembered and often recalled among us modelers though. Not all is lost. Norm Skuderin also has a passion for the great air racers. Here's one of his tributes in a photo by Chris Bryant...

[Mark Misegadis]

Link to my photo of that fabulous plane at reno last year.  Very sad about losing these two.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/k4cxGNouSfwQ-PRW6cgEoo-fyqxV5oOgHH8WNFiKcZQ?feat=directlink