Pilot with Tyler Ties Killed in Iowa Air Show Crash

DAVENPORT, IOWA (AP/Staff) – Authorities say a North Texas-based pilot with Tyler connections was killed when his plane crashed during an air show in eastern Iowa. The Quad-City Times reported the death Glenn A. Smith of Frisco. Smith was CEO of the Warbird Educational Foundation that owned the Soviet-era jet he was flying. According to KETK, he was a life member of Tyler’s Historic Aviation Memorial Museum and owned two rare MIG-17s, now on display in Tyler. The crash Saturday created a fireball when Smith’s plane failed to pull out of a 45-degree bank and crashed into a field. No one else was hurt. Federal officials are investigating. Smith was part of the HopperFlight jet team that was performing at the Quad-City Air Show in Davenport. A squadron of planes flew over the crash site Sunday in the “missing man” formation before the air show continued.