Traffic was backed up but no one was hurt when a World War Two vintage Warbird airplane made an emergency landing on Highway 41 in Fond du Lac Sunday. It was on its way to the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh.
The pilot, 59-year-old William Leff of Dayton, Ohio, reported engine trouble but the only landing spot available was the highway.
Traffic was blocked off in both directions as Leff brought the old plane in on a dead stick landing. The engine propeller was frozen.
State Patrol Sergeant John Jones says the pilot pulled up just enough to miss a squad car, banked slightly to stay on the highway track and maneuvered the plane to miss yet a second squad car and a camper.
Except for clipping some roadside signs, nothing else was damaged. No one was hurt. Sgt. Jones says it was one of those "holy cow things."
Leff has been a pilot for 32 years. He was flying from an air show in Peoria, Illinois to EAA AirVenture.