| | This Bonanza was a great aircraft. I, along with three friends, purchased N3388V in 1957 or early 1958 and we kept it at the Grand Prarie, TX airport during the period we owned it. I logged about 200 hours in it mostly flying to ski areas and enjoyed the plane very much during the short time we had it. Unfortunately, the manager of the Grand Prarie airport borrowed it in Aug. 1959 for a flight to Connecticutt and he tried to land it in a small cow pasture in western PA after panicking when the door came open in flight (the door lock needed a little extra leverage on the handle to get it closed properly). He ended up groud-looping the plane and this caused some serious damage to the wing and lalnding gear. We ended up selling it to a Martin-Denver colleague of mine who lived in Littleton,CO. who was planning to repair all of the damage. However, he didn't finish the job (or perhaps never got started on it) and I understand that he sold it to an officer in the USAF stationed at Lowry Field who took it back to Chanute Field and presumedly had it repaired there. |
