An 82-year-old from Windham, New Hampshire, was injured Thursday when the rare plane he was piloting flipped over at Brunswick Executive Airport in Brunswick.
The crash was reported at about 12:30 p.m.
The two-seat, open cockpit plane, a 1939 Kinner Sportwing, was headed to the Owls Head Transportation Museum, executive director John Bottero confirmed on Thursday. According to Brunswick police it had started its flight in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Police said the plane flipped over on touchdown. Bottero said he heard that the plane was taxiing when something happened with the brakes and it went over its nose onto its back.
The pilot was the only occupant and was treated at the scene for minor injuries, police said.
Bottero said the plane was expected to be “a flying example” and probably still will be.
“Most of these things are well worth restoration,” he said. “It was restored by the gentleman who was donating it. So I have every confidence that it will most likely fly again.”
Bottero identified the plane as one that appears in a 2019 video, in which it is described as the “last of its kind.” Owner David DeVries, whose age and residence match those of the pilot in Thursday’s crash, appears in the video and talks about finding the plane in a dilapidated wooden hanger, covered in droppings. “Even with all that, I thought it was the most beautiful plane I ever saw.”
DeVries said he contacted every registered owner of a Kinner Sportwing and believes his is the only remaining flying example.
The crash is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration.
