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Joe,
I've tried my best to enhance several
of the pages. I think there is some improvement, but you still can't
read most of the one page. I don't believe that the is a great deal
of new information on that page. Most of the text in this area on other
reports repeats the witness statements, which are legible. What
is missing is likely a statement of specific flying errors based on the
witness statments.
From the first pages of the AAF Form 14, the
accident was 100% pilot error, with secondary reasons: error in judgement
and carelessnes. I have attached this page from another report
so you can see the pre-printed text.
I'm not a pilot, but I've read thousands
of these reports. I think the airplane dropped too low during acrobatics
and nearly hit the trees. The pilot pulled up to avoid the trees,
but too steeply, stalled out, and fell to the ground.
I hope this helps.
Mike
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| The page from the second report is actually
a few months older. Some of the worst reports I've seen were from the
fifties. Most of the difference in quality seems to be related to the
individual microfilm reels, but the condition of the original documents also
plays a big part. The original documents were more than ten years
old when they were microfilmed in the fifties. Some where very yellowed,
plus they were typed with a worn typewriter ribbon, making the text very light.
That combination makes copying today difficult, it was practically impossible
in the 50s to get a clear copy.
The reports were placed on 1200 microfilm reels between 1955 and 1957 and
the original documents were stored for many years before being destroyed
as "non-permanent records" around 1980. They made a single set of microfilm
reels and used them until 1996. Some of the reels, like
this one, had a darker exposure, which makes reading them very difficult at
best. There are also many scratches and repairs to the film which further
complicates the situation. Deterioration on most of the reels
suggests at some point they were poorly stored in a damp environment.
They also lost several reels and a number of well-known reports over
the years. There are no other copies, so they are gone forever.
I can't think of any other place to find the information. Even the
USAF has copies of the film
in the same condition. The reports were sensivite at the time, so copies
were usually not sent to other record groups.
I don't believe there is any more I can do, theres just nothing left to
salvage from the document.
Please let me know if there is anything else I can do.
Mike
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