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Air show crash kills pilot, father, son

CALERA, Ala., Sept. 24 (UPI) -- A pilot, a father and his 11-year-old son were killed when their small plane crashed near Birmingham, Ala., shortly before the start of an air show.

Pilot Clayton Reuse was giving a rides to air show spectators John Smitherman and his son, Landon, when the four-seat Beachcraft Bonanza F-33 crashed just south of the county airport in Calera, Ala., The Birmingham (Ala.) News reported Sunday.

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The engine sounded as if it was starting and then stopping as it took off, witnesses told an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.

The plane hit the ground but remained largely intact, said Corky Smith of the NTSB regional office in Atlanta.

Smitherman family members were at the show, coroner Doug Ballard said.

Saturday's Wings and Wheels Air Show was not canceled because Birmingham Aero Club past president Ken Coupland said Reuse would have wanted the show to go on.

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