A Goodyear Corsair belonging to Vintage Wings of Canada was heavily damaged and the well-known pilot seriously injured after the rare Second World War fighter departed the runway at Gatineau Airport and ended up in a ditch. Pilot John Aitken, a former RCAF CF-18 pilot and McKee Trophy winner was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Michael Potter, founder of Vintage Wings, told the Ottawa Citizen the pilot has a broken nose and a broken rib. He is expected to fully recover. Firefighters were training at the airport and were on the scene in minutes.
The aircraft suffered unspecified damage but an image from the scene shows it perpendicular to the runway with visible damage to the right wing. Vintage Wings Chief Mechanic Paul Tremblay said the aircraft is repairable. “We’ll definitely be able to get it going again,” he said. The plane was scheduled to appear at several air shows this summer including a Corsair reunion in Michigan that has drawn about a dozen flying examples of the rare vintage fighters.