Franklin races the Shockwave truck, while LeRoy tears off in the opposite direction. "Near-misses and close chases" were MODs trademarks, says LeRoy.

The Masters of Disaster are an airshow team that performs edge of your seat aerobatics in combination with ground based jet-propelled trucks and pyrotechnics. The show did include at one time a jet-propelled biplane.

The team lost two of its founding members (Jimmy Franklin and Bobby Younkin) in a crash during a performance at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, on July 10, 2005.

The team re-grouped and was seen again on the airshow circuit in 2005. Two years later the team leader, Jim LeRoy, was lost at the Dayton Air Show on July 28, 2007 performing an exhibition they called Codename:Maryslamb. His Pitts Special aircraft slammed into the runway and slid for approximately 300 yards before becoming engulfed in flames. Leroy died on impact, hitting the ground at 200 mph.

The team now, in 2007, offers two shows, entitled Tinstix and Codename:Maryslamb.

Team members (past and present)

  • Jimmy Franklin (Deceased July 10, 2005)
  • Bobby Younkin (Deceased July 10, 2005)
  • Jim LeRoy (Deceased July 28, 2007)
  • Les & Kent Shockley - Jet Trucks [1]
  • Jurgis Kairys - Aerobatics
  • Skip Stewart - Aerobatics
  • John Mohr - Aerial Transfer
  • Gene Soucy - Aerobatics
  • Rich Gibson - Pyrotechnics

External links

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