[427TJ]

The latest explanation I have heard is that they were performing individual landings after flying a five-ship formation for a photo shoot. The lead aircraft, a Sea Fury, led the formation overhead the runway and each aircraft performed a "pitch-out" for spacing prior to landing one by one. The lead aircraft landed on "brick one," meaning the first part of the runway, forcing the second airplane, an F2G Corsair, to go-around due to insufficient spacing on the runway. (The leader was supposed to land farther down to provide spacing for the number two airplane, etc.) So the number two plane goes around and the number three, the yellow-nosed P-51D, lands. The mishap green-winged P-51A performed his final turn and apparently had lost sight of the preceding airplane, the P-51D, and had come very close to the 51D making it look like a formation landing. It seems that the mishap P-51A finally regained sight of the preceding 51D as he flared for landing. He may have tried to add power for a go-around but did not have room as he impacted the 51D's tail.