The first time I saw Jimmy Franklin was at the Ida Grove airshow in Iowa. I was 20 years old and just a private pilot then. I remember thinking that he was definitely going to crash that day. That inverted flat spin down to 300-400 feet was insane!
Many years later I was crewing the PBY at an airshow in Midland TX and I ran into him on the flight line. I told him about the first time I saw him and that I was sure he was going to die that day. He laughed and said it was all part of the show. He said "Next time you watch my act, pay close attention to the airplane. After I come out of the inverted flat spin I kick the rudder back and fourth and goose the throttle a bit to make it look like I am out of control. Then I fly it right to the ground on the pullout, but it looks like I am pulling as hard as I can to keep from hitting the ground."
Sure enough I watched his routine a few hours later and you could see him kicking the hell out of the rudder and flying it right to the ground. I felt like being let in on a secret. Boy he was a great pilot.
A few years later I saw him again at another airshow with not such a happy ending. I was the copilot on a BE 1900 flying into SPI. The airshow was 'paused' for us to come in and land. After we dropped our pax off we taxied to our mx hangar. Jimmy Franklin taxied behind us on his way to the runway. As I was doing my postflight Franklin was flying his routine with Younkin. I just happened to look up and see Franklin hit the ground. He hit hard enough to bend his gear all the way back and killed the prop. He climbed back up to about 30 feet or so then settled back onto the grass. He was ok, but the plane was a wreck.
