Pilot's widow: 'He loved that plane' (UPDATED with PHOTOS and OBITUARY)

NICEVILLE – Tim McDonald liked to say that he was born in the wrong era. He should have been born in the 1920s or 1930s.

But the closest the 57-year-old pilot and businessman could come to that was flying his bright yellow T-6 Texan, a World War II era plane that had been rebuilt and refurbished from the inside out.

“He loved that plane,” said his wife, Jan. “I can’t tell you how many times I said to people, ‘If that plane were a woman, I’d be jealous.’ ”

Remembering Tim McDonald: A photo gallery »

McDonald went down with his plane Friday, when it crashed into the Gulf of Mexico just after noon. He was taking his brother-in-law, Tim Turner, of Omaha, Nebraska for a ride.

Turner, along with other family members, was in town for the Saturday wedding of the McDonalds’ younger daughter, Karen.

Karen and her new husband Michael were wed, as planned, at Christ the Redeemer Church in Niceville, where Tim will be memorialized Thursday.

“Her dad would have haunted me if I didn’t do that,” Jan says, of going ahead with the wedding. “He was so happy to know that she was marrying a wonderful man. He would not have wanted us to cancel that.”

Jan and her son, Tim, gave away the bride, standing in for her missing father.

On Monday, family and friends gathered at Jan and Tim’s Niceville home. The phone rang constantly. A flower arrangement from the wedding dropped tiny green leaves on the kitchen table.

Photos

• See the scene in Destin immediately after the crash. »
• Wreckage recovered from a T-6 that crashed into the gulf in March. »
• The scene immediately after the crash of a T-6 in March. »
• An aerial tour with Destin's warbirds. »
• View a slideshow of T-6 warbirds flying over the Emerald Coast. »

McDonald will be cremated and there will be no burial ceremony, Jan said. Instead, a celebration of his life will be held at the church on White Point Road at 1 p.m., followed by a reception in the parish hall.

He was a family man who “lit up” when he saw his 21-month-old granddaughter, Kalli.

“I’ve never seen a man so in love with his grandbaby,” says Jan’s younger brother, Nick Turner.

“Everything came to a stop when she came into the room,” Jan adds

He also wanted the best for his three children. Jill is the oldest, followed by Karen and Tim.

Tim worked with him in the family business, Fort Walton Machining, as did Jill’s husband, Frank, and new son-in-law, Michael.

“Tim is extremely well-respected in the business community, but he was a very quiet leader,” said family friend Jody Henderson. “Tim is a giver and not a taker. That’s pretty much his life.”

Henderson added that McDonald had taken the company and grown it from 35 employees to more than 200, and that it continued to expand, despite the economic depression. He was accessible to his employees, many of whom have said that Fort Walton Machining felt like a “family” to them. The business will open as usual Tuesday.

When Tim’s plane went down, Jan was at the Embassy Suites finalizing wedding plans.

It was her brother, Tim’s, first flight in the T-6. Family members describe him as a devoted family man and an airplane aficionado. He was a former Marine, a husband and a father.

“This was his first ride in the T-6 and he was so excited about it,” Jan says.

Aviation has long been a part of the family. Jan’s father was a helicopter pilot, retiring only at age 70. Her brother Tim was an airplane mechanic.

And her husband just plain fell in love with flying after a friend took him for a ride in a private plane about seven years ago.

“When he came back from this trip, he was like, ‘I’ve got to do this,’ ” Jan says. “I said OK and off he went.

“He was passionate about anything he did,” she adds. “It was 150 percent.”

Since then, he has owned a handful of aircraft, with the yellow T-6 being his pride and joy.

“He loved this airplane,” she says. “It was the sound of a radial engine.”

The plane was meticulously maintained and McDonald flew it every chance he got. He was a member of the Destin Warbirds.

“The T-6 that he had was probably the best T-6 in the world,” said fellow pilot Ray Watson. “That airplane had just gone through a complete restoration.”

The crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. The main fuselage was recovered Sunday, along with both of the victims.

Sunday, the aircraft recovery company was able to locate all but a portion of one of the wings, according to NTSB regional investigator Bob Gretz.

The plane will be taken to the company's headquarters in Georgia, where it will remain in secure storage.

"We have 90 percent of the airplane," Gretz said, adding that the insurance company, not NTSB, pays for the recovery of the aircraft. "We would always like as much as we can get."

He expected his preliminary report into the cause of the crash to be completed by the beginning of next week.

How to Help: Donations can be made to the McDonald Family Scholarship at Northwest Florida State College. Mail them to 100 College Blvd, Niceville, Fl 32578.

McDonald's obituary follows ...

Timothy John McDonald

Timothy John McDonald of Niceville passed away July 2, 2010, at the age of 57 while flying his World War II T-6 Texan Aircraft over the Gulf of Mexico. His passenger, brother-in-law, Tim Turner of Omaha, Neb., also passed away.

Born in Omaha, Tim was raised on a farm just outside of Council Bluffs, Iowa. A 1971 graduate of St. Albert’s High School in Council Bluffs, Tim joined the U.S. Army after graduation. On Sept.18, 1976, he married the love of his life, Jan Simpkins, and together they have three children, daughter, Jill Kerschitz and husband, Frank; granddaughter, Kalli Kerschitz; daughter, Karen Archer and her husband, Michael; granddaughter, Lexi Archer; and son, Timothy M. McDonald, all of Niceville.

Tim leaves behind two sisters, Joyce Hardisty and husband, Rich; niece Chelsea and nephew Spencer; and Marcia McDonald, and also brothers Phil McDonald, Paul McDonald and wife, Rose; niece Abby, nephews Cory and Nate; Rick McDonald and wife, Cindy; niece Caiti and nephew Matt, all of southwest Iowa.

Tim also is survived by his father- and mother-in-law, Larry and Judy Turner of Elliott, Iowa; brothers-in-law, Michael, Jim (Julie) Turner, Philip (Becky) Turner, Nick (Kim) Turner; and sister-in-law, Elizabeth (David) Lemelin; and many Turner nieces and nephews. Tim also has a very large extended family of cousins from southwest Iowa and southeast Nebraska.

Tim was predeceased by his parents, Bernard and Iris McDonald of Underwood, Iowa.

On July 5, 1976, Tim became a successful Mac Tool distributor, servicing all of southwest Iowa. He was promoted to district manager, regional manager and eventually was the president of Mac Tools in Columbus, Ohio.

In 1997, Tim retired from Mac Tools and because he had a passion to once again own and operate his own business, he purchased Fort Walton Machining, a small company of 35 employees on Industrial Street. He quickly grew the company with his sales background and purchased the building at 43 Jet Drive in Fort Walton Beach, the current location of Fort Walton Machining.

With more than 200 employees strong, Tim was as passionate about Fort Walton Machining and the employees as he was flying his Cessna and Baron airplanes for business and the T-6 for fun. An accomplished pilot, Tim was a single-engine, multi-engine, instrument and commercially-rated pilot.

Tim was a member of the Fort Walton Beach Rotary Club, Economic Development Council board member and a member of the Northwest Florida State College Foundation, where he created the McDonald Family Scholarship Program. He was past president of TeCMEN and honorary director of Beach Community Bank. Tim was also a member of the NATA (North American Trainer Association) as well as the Destin Warbirds.

A memorial service and celebration of life will be at 1 p.m. July 8 at Christ Our Redeemer Catholic Church with a luncheon to follow in the Parish Hall. Heritage Gardens is entrusted with all arrangements.

Memorials may be made to the McDonald Family Scholarship Program at Northwest Florida State College.