RENO, Nev. (AP) — They came from every corner to the Nevada desert to watch the nation's premier air race, a daring competition between speed-hungry pilots that pushed the limits of safety. They all had one thing in common: a deep affection for aviation.
One was a recent college graduate in a wheelchair who was thrilled to be at the races. Another was a former airline pilot who owned a vintage airplane. Still another was at his first race, attending it at the urging of his father and brother.
They were among the 10 people who died when one of the planes in the race, a World War II-era P-51 Mustang fighter called The Galloping Ghost, plunged into the VIP section. The 74-year-old stunt pilot also died in the nation's deadliest air racing disaster.
Shrapnel from the crash sprayed the crowd, leaving dozens more with severed limbs, including fingers, legs and arms.
Since the crash, authorities in Reno have been flooded with calls from around the country, as relatives and friends worried about the whereabouts of spectators. Medical officials used fingerprints and DNA to identify victims' remains.
"We've had some emotional calls, and it's because of the uncertainty," said Kathy Jacobs, executive director of the Crisis Call Center in Reno. "It's terrifying for those individuals not to know what has happened to their loved ones."
A Kansas family saw four of its members taken to a Reno hospital for serious injuries after the crash.
The matriarch, Cherie Elvin, has been missing since the plane hit the ground.
The injured include her husband, Chuck Elvin, their two sons, Bill and Brian Elvin, and Brian Elvin's wife, Linda. Each had lost some part of a leg, according to a website used by the family.
Gary Umscheid, whose daughter, Rachel, is married to Bill Elvin, described Cherie and Chuck Elvin as "very typical Midwestern folks who love family."
"The family has a distinct love of aviation," Umscheid said.
The National Championship Air Races draw thousands of people to Reno every September to watch various military and civilian planes race. Local schools often held field trips there, and a local sports book took wagers on the outcomes.
During the races, planes flew wingtip-to-wingtip as low as 50 feet (15 meters) off the ground. The competitors follow an oval path around pylons, with distances and speeds depending on the class of aircraft. Pilots reached speeds of up to 500 mph.
The pilot, James Leeward, was the 20th pilot to die at the races since it began 47 years ago, but Friday's crash was the first where spectators were killed. Some of the injured described being coated in aviation fuel that burned.
Leeward and his team had modified the plane beyond recognition, taking a full 10 feet off the wingspan and cutting the ailerons — the back edges of the wings used to turn the aircraft — by roughly 28 inches.
Leeward was a veteran air racer from Ocala, Fla., who flew in Hollywood films. His father worked in aviation and taught him the trade. He was married with two adult sons. Leeward loved speeding, on the ground or in the air, and had recently taken up racing cars.
Dan Martin of San Jose, Calif., flew with Leeward on the set of the "The Tuskegee Airmen" in the early 1990s. Martin competed in one of the Reno competition's slower races last week, and was watching at the time of the crash.
"He could fly just about anything, and he always took a very professional approach to everything he did in aviation," Martin said.
Among the others killed were Sharon Stewart, 47, of Reno; Greg Morcom, 47, of Marysville, Wash.; George Hewitt, 60, and Wendy Hewitt, 57, both of Fort Mohave, Ariz.; Michael Wogan, 22, of Scottsdale, Ariz.; and Regina Bynum, 53, of San Angelo, Texas.
Stewart had nine children, four still alive. She lived with her longtime boyfriend in a Reno trailer home and rarely worked because he preferred she stayed at home while he provided for both of them.
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