EAA Sport Aviation - December 2011

Jimmy Leeward

A tribute BY LANE WALLACE

“JIMMY NEVER MET A STRANGER.”

Of all the attributes and stories that fellow pilots and friends remember about Jimmy Leeward, who was killed when his highly modified P- 51 Mustang racer, Galloping Ghost, crashed at the Reno Air Races September 16, 2011, that is the phrase that recurs the most.

Jimmy had many other traits and accomplishments for which he will be remembered, of course. He was a talented and experienced pilot, who’d soloed (illegally) at the age of 14 and, thanks to the surplus military aircraft business his father and uncle owned in Fort Wayne, Indiana, owned his own P- 51 Mustang by the age of 18. He began his racing career flying a Goodyear midget racer at the Fort Wayne air races when he was still in college, and his first appearance at the Reno Air Races was as a crew member of lifelong friend Denny Sherman’s midget racer Little Gem in 1964. Jimmy went on to become not only an avid air racer and stunt pilot, but also a dedicated board member of the EAA and a passionate evangelist for flying in general.

Jimmy polishes his P- 51 Cloud Dancer at the 2004 Reno races.

Jimmy was also something of a rake, willing to bend a few rules—sometimes outrageously—either to assuage his competitive spirit or just for good, honest fun. Robert “Hoot” Gibson, a retired astronaut and fellow air racer, recalled one time at AirVenture when he, Bob Odegaard, and Jimmy were staging a mock air race for the crowd. They were supposed to take turns winning on the oval course arranged around Runway 18/36. But once they got in the air, competitive drive usually overwhelmed the arrangements, and it ended up being every man for himself.

One day, Jimmy had asked to win the race, because his family was there watching. The other two agreed, but once the race got underway, Jimmy found himself trailing badly. So on the last lap, Jimmy simply cut straight across the course to beat the other two to the finish line.

Jet and Sport class race pilot Lee Behel remembered a similar incident when he flew in a demonstration jet race at AirVenture with Jimmy, who was flying a MiG- 17.

“He found himself behind, so he just lit
the burner of the jet!” Lee said, laughing,
“It was a demo race. We weren’t supposed
to light afterburners!” But whenever Jimmy
pulled a stunt like that, Lee said, “He’d
come down and give everyone a sheepish
grin, and it was very hard to get upset with
him about it.”
The same was true for Jimmy’s well-
known habit of borrowing from other racers
at Reno. Jay Wisler, owner of an aviation
parts supply business and a friend and
volunteer race crew member for Jimmy,
recalled how Jimmy used to arrive at Reno
with his essentially “stock” Mustang, Cloud
Dancer, with only the few tools he carried
aboard the airplane.