[Milsurplus] Doug Lacey Harpoon

Fri Jul 17 18:16:48 EDT 2009

You hit a soft spot with this one.

It is my opinion that there was a lot more to the crash than simple
hot-roding and getting too slow. 

I flew with Doug a lot and I was the last guy to fly right seat with him in
the PV-2D before the crash. Doug was a good friend and he and I talked a lot
about flying, technique and emergencies. I also assisted the NTSB
investigator at the crash site (who literally could not recognize major
structural components that were completely intact). The level of his
ineptitude was astonishing to me.

To make a long story a bit more abbreviated I obtained two videos that never
made the news and I talked to many eye witnesses (two Firemen included) who
were very close to the aircraft right before impact. The engines went from
cruise power to zero power in a fraction of the time it took me to type this
sentence. Shortly after the complete loss of power you can hear on the video
tape the wind rushing noise of the airframe just before impact. Knowing Doug
and his great concern for reciprocal loading on the planetary gears in the
nose case of the R2800 I cannot see him pulling the power off so abruptly
because of the great harm it would instantly do to the engines. I know in my
heart that something happened on that Harpoon that caused a complete power
failure to both engines. There are many scenarios that come to mind and the
simple one; fuel starvation was not a likely cause. 

I would just like to say that this crash should not be written off to simple
hot-roding and getting too slow. The Doug Lacy that I knew was not a pilot
who would fly on the edge and intentionally put his passengers at risk.
Please consider that there was a lot more to this crash than a simple pilot
screw up.

As for the interior of Doug's Harpoon I agree that it was beautiful. As
previously mentioned everything that went into the PV-2D was fully
operational. Doug was not only a mechanical genius but he was an electronics
guru as well. That Harpoon was a fire ant sprayer and came with a big hopper
inside along with a stripped interior. She was gutted from radome to tail
cone. Doug built every rack, mount, table, floor etc himself. He took her
from a hollow shell and made her into the only complete Lockheed Harpoon
around. The turret worked as well as the Jammer, ART-13, ARC-5 and the
APN-1. He even had an SCR-718 installed that worked. I gave it to him. Even
though it didn't belong in the Navy aircraft he wanted it because it looked
good at the radar operator's station.

Doug was a sort of a gypsy and did many jobs. His main profession was
installing alarm systems for residents and businesses but he did a little of
everything to help support the one love of his life; the PV-2D Harpoon. He
lived for that aircraft and he put everything he had into it. Sadly he also
died in it along with many other friends. I wish I could have been there in
the cockpit to help him with whatever happened that day.

Taigh

Taigh Ramey
Proprietor, Vintage Aircraft
7432 C.E.Dixon Street
Stockton, California 95206
(209) 982-0273
(209) 982-4832 Fax
www.twinbeech.com
KEEP 'EM FLYING...FOR HISTORY!

-----Original Message-----
From: milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Hue Miller
Sent: Friday, July 17, 2009 12:39 PM
To: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Doug Lacey Harpoon

> Doug was hotrodding over the Clear Lake seaplane meet, doing low passes,
zoom climbs and pushovers. On one pass he got too slow at the top of the
zoom climb and stalled. The awful plunge into the lake was fully documented
in news footage and is horrible to watch. All 8 persons aboard perished. I
was so lucky to not have been among the dead.
> 
> I wonder if anyone else on this group saw the interior of Doug's Harpoon?
It was a sight to behold. Radios galore, including vintage ECM gear that all
worked. Doug confided to me that he proved it in a broadcast TV jamming
episode over an urban area put on the for benefit of a few freinds who
doubted that he could do it. As I recall him telling it he briefly wiped out
the TV station for?over a pretty big area below him. I don't condone jamming
of any kind, but better airborne vintage mil ECM gear than a dirty CB
linear.
> 
> http://www.warbirdregistry.org/pv2harpoonregistry/pv2harpoon-84061.html
> 
> 73,
> AF6IM

I saw an article in, I believe, Air Classics showing views including
internal, during

the restoration. I may still have that number somewhere. The interior photo,
as

I recall, was reverse imaged! But I was amazed at the complexity of
restoration.

What did Doug Lacey do, when he had free time to work to support the hobby?

Also: so this was a case of pilot error, he did the climb out of too low a
pass?
Very, very sad.

Like in some Twilight Zone episode: your number was not up.

-Hue Miller 
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