'THE WATER WAS ON FIRE': NTSB on the scene after another Destin Warbird crashes into Gulf of Mexico (NOON UPDATE with PHOTOS)

NOON UPDATE: 

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and a tow boat out of Destin will try today to maneuver the T-6 Texan aircraft that crashed Friday into the Gulf of Mexico so divers can attempt to recover the crash victims.

Rough seas forced the recovery team to drop plans to use a barge and crane in the effort.

National Transportation Safety Board Representative Bob Gretz is in Destin and will be coordinating the crash investigation. The NTSB will brief the media at Destin airport this afternoon.

The story continues.

DESTIN — A Niceville man and his brother-in-law have been identified as the pilot and passenger of the small World War II-era plane that crashed into the Gulf of Mexico on Friday afternoon.

Tim McDonald, 57, of Niceville, was flying his T-6 Texan aircraft when it went down about 12:20 p.m. about three-quarters of a mile off the coast of the Okaloosa/Walton County line, said Sgt. Rick Hord with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

McDonald’s passenger aboard the plane was his brother-in-law, 46-year-old Tim Turner of Omaha, Neb.

“We don’t (know what caused the crash). We can speculate all day long, but we don’t know what went wrong,” said Nick Turner, Tim Turner’s brother. “They were just out having some fun. I’m not sure what happened.”

To see more photos from the crash scene, click here.

In March, The Log flew with McDonald. To see photos from the flight, click here.

To see a video of the plane's final moments, click here.

Nick Turner said he believed the two, who he described as great family men, had been in the air for about an hour or hour and a half when the plane went down.

McDonald is the owner of Fort Walton Machining, a specialty manufacturing company that works primarily with the military, aerospace and medial industry. He also is a member of the Destin Warbirds, a local flying group.

McDonald’s plane crashed, caught fire and then sank off the beach behind a stretch of shoreline between the Crab Trap and Pompano Joe’s, according to U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer John Scott.

Rescue crews located the wreckage, which is resting on the sea bottom, late Friday afternoon. A barge and a crane will be used to recover the plane, said Greg Donovan, airports director for Okaloosa County.

Rescue divers located the wreckage, which was found upside down on the sea bottom late Friday. The water was too dark for divers to see inside the aircraft, Hord said. No bodies have been recovered, he added.

Witnesses said the yellow plane had been doing stunts just before it crashed.

“I was walking down the beach, looked up and saw this old plane doing acrobatic stunts,” said George Gregory of Destin. “Then all the sudden it didn’t finish the stunt. A minute later it hit the water and exploded.”

John Tompkins, who works at one of the restaurants along the beach, said the plane was making the same maneuver it had several times before when it crashed.

“He went up high and was turning down to make another pass and he went straight into the water," he said. "There was a big ball of flames out there on top of the water and everything."

Right after the plane hit the water, a lifeguard jumped on a jet ski to go to the area, but the plane had already sunk by then, Tompkins said.

Bob Bryant of Destin said he was sitting in his beach chair when saw the plane switch from doing acrobatics to doing a corkscrew towards the water.

“I just knew it was going into that water,” Bryant said. “It was pretty hopeless. It just breaks your heart because there is nothing you can do.”

An investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board was expected to arrive in Destin late Friday evening, Donovan said.

“An investigation can easily take months to determine a cause,” he said. “There were apparently quite a few eye witnesses on the beach and others that will help the investigators put together the particulars.”

Friday’s plane crash is the second in the area involving a World War II-era plane this year. On March 6, a Birmingham couple, Dr. Herman Zeiger Jr. and wife Peggy Zeiger, were killed when their AT-6 Texan crashed into the gulf in South Walton County.

- Angel McCurdy, Katie Tammen and Dusty Ricketts

EYEWITNESS REPORT

Evans Hammet, a Destin resident, witnessed the yellow World War II fighter plane spin out of control.

 “It looked like it was doing one of those stall out stunts where they dive straight down and pull up before it hits the water,” said Hammet. “It was diving down and when it was about four stories above the water the plane looked like it tried to pull out, but it kind of spun out of control and nailed the water.”

He said you could hear it hit the water from the beach and about 30 seconds later there was an explosion, “the water was on fire and it was letting off a bunch of black smoke, then it sunk.”

 “Everyone on the beach just froze, once they realized what had happened people started rushing to their phones to call 911,” said Hammet.

Seablaster was the first vessel on the scene.

 “It’s really surreal,” said Hammet. “The whole beach is silent.”

— Rebecca Deely

COLLECTION OF COVERAGE:

To read about the first crash in March, click here.

To read a story about the victim, click here.

IN THE AIR WITH THE DESTIN WARBIRDS: Pilots say they are preserving history, but complaints mount

A FALLEN WARBIRD: In the wake of tragedy, Destin pilot upset by ‘backlash' as he mourns Birmingham doctor (with RECOVERY PHOTOS)

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PHOTOS

To see photos of the formation flying moments before the March crash, click here.

Click to view a photo gallery of the March crash scene »

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BACKGROUND

The T-6 Texan shows have become a familiar sight and sound in Destin.

But they have alson been a source of controversy with some residents and visitors complaining about the noise and safety of the formation flying.

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Log photographer Kathy Harrison went up in a T-6 in 2007. To see a video from the cockpit that flight, click here. To see photos from that 2007 flight, click here.

To read the initial report, continue on.

Early Friday afternoon, tourists lined the beaches that surround the Okaloosa/Walton county line and witnessed the demise of another World War II-era aircraft.

“He just did a loop, came out of it and went straight down,” said Frederick Frazier, of McKinney, Texas, as he stood on the shore taking pictures.

Emergency crews were dispatched to the area surrounding James Lee Park where hundreds of beachgoers took to the sand for the first day of sun the area has seen in almost a week.

“This one exploded,” said Richard Sallee, of Frankfort, Ind., who joined Frazier.

Witnesses described the plane as a yellow, World War II-styled plane, and described a “boom” upon collision with the water. A surface fire, producing a black cloud of smoke ensued for a matter of minutes before the plane quickly dropped to the Gulf’s floor.

Preliminary reports indicate that a Niceville man and his brother-in-law from Omaha, Nebraska were aboard the yellow T-6 single-engine World War II plane, said Sgt. Rick Hord of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

Talk of a second warbird crash began immediately. In early March, a AT-6 Texan warbird crashed into the Gulf, miles east of Friday’s wreck, in a similar fashion. That crash killed pilot Dr. Herman Evan Zeiger Jr. of Birmingham, Ala. and his wife and passenger, Peggy.

Destin Fire Control District Beach Safety lifeguards were also quick to remove swimmers from the Gulf.

“Everyone on the beach saw the plane spiral down, hit the water and burst into flames,” said Destin Fire Control District Captain Jeff Anderson. “We’re trying to verify who was on the plane.”