The VE-Day Arsenal of Democracy celebration over Washington, D.C., may have appeared to go off without a hitch. But what most people didn't realize is that one pilot experienced what he thought was an inflight fire during the stellar flyover.
Smoke in the cockpit appeared as the TBM Avenger pilot was flying in formation with several other airplanes. The pilot acted very quickly, reported the emergency, opened the windows to clear the smoke and made a perfect landing at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
While the pilot thought a fire had erupted in flight, what he later described as a "1,500 psi pinhole hydraulic leak" caused the smoke to appear.
A TBM Avenger pilot released an intense video of his emergency landing at DCA and an assessment of what happened. Check out the video here.
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