A NAZI ACCIDENT
Vintage fighter plane’s flaming crash-landing on US highway
A WORLD War Two-era plane with Nazi insignia burst into flames after crash-landing … on a US highway.
The pilot of the single-engine AT-6 steered clear of cars after the engine failed and was unharmed in the blaze.
Fire crews rushed to the wreckage on the 101 Highway in Agoura Hills, California, shortly before 1.48pm local time. Air investigators are probing the crash.
Hero pilot Rob Sandberg, 43, said: “The engine completely failed. I picked a spot where I knew there was a big section of cars that weren’t there.”
The plane, part of Condor Squadron vintage flying club, performs mock dog fights at nearby Van Nuys Airport.
Condor Squadron president Chris Rushing said the plane suffered a catastrophic failure. “Thank God he’s OK and no one got hurt on the ground,” he said.
Enthusiasts painted the AT-6 with camouflage and the Balkenkreuz, the Nazi Wehrmacht’s Luftwaffe emblem, for demonstrations and airshows. The crash, on Tuesday, closed the road.
The plane, known as a North American T-6 Texan, was used widely for pilot training during the Second World War in the US, UK and the Commonwealth.