Gone West: Dan Murray

March 10, 2016 - We were heartbroken to learn that Dan Murray, subject of the cover story in the March/April issue of Vintage Airplane magazine, was killed in the crash of his beloved 1928 Travel Air on Wednesday, March 2.

According to multiple stories published by local media, Murray and his friend and fellow pilot Jeff Caplitz died when the vintage biplane went down in a field in Palmer Lake, Colorado. Murray and his Travel Air are featured in the current issue of Vintage Airplane in an article written by Budd Davisson. Murray’s career was long and diverse, and found him working on everything from Minuteman missiles to Burt Rutan’s Voyager, and even the DeLorean mockups for the Back to the Future ride at Universal Studios. It was the Travel Air, however, that really captured his attention. In Davisson’s article, Murray talked about his long history with the type, and said that, 40 years ago, after flying a restored Travel Air to Blakesburg, he was “totally hooked.”

All of us at EAA and VAA extend our heartfelt condolences to Murray and Caplitz’s families.

Murray was 77 years old and Caplitz was 60.