James, The airport he went to was not only his home base but also where his shop is. The shop has tremendous capability, including major repairs and then some. They can build a brand new Sea Fury, or just about anything else, from a Data Plate... Additionally if he did know he had a midair there could be other factors such as he might have been too rattled to land the plane right away, doubtful but possible. The other pilot might have figured he was a goner and told the Sea Fury to just go home. The Sea Fury is a 400+ MPH airplane and is also made to take a licking and keep on ticking. Most of the remainder of the trip was over sparsely populated area and both occupants were likely wearing parachutes. There are just too many questions right now to give it much brain grease. Obviously somebody screwed up somewhere, though the Sea Fury pilot was quite capable of making a good decision, and knows more about maintaining, repairing, rebuilding and flying airplanes than either of us will likely ever know; so I will side with him, at least for the time being.
Last edited by Yoda2; 04-28-2014 at 11:25 PM.