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Pilot Dies After WWII-Era Plane Crashes Into Hudson, Police Say

By  William Mathis and Kathleen Culliton | May 27, 2016 8:08pm | Updated on May 28, 2016 8:27pm

UPPER WEST SIDE  — A Florida pilot died Friday night after a WWII-era plane went down in the Hudson River, officials said.

The P-47 Thunderbolt — a single-seat fighter plane built between 1941–1945 that can weigh approximately 7 tons  — was seen crashing into the water at approximately West 79th Street shortly after 7:30 p.m.. Officials said the crash happened closer to the New Jersey coastline.

The 56-year-old pilot, William Gordon, of Key West, Fla., did not survive, NYPD officials said.

Federal Aviation Administration officials said the plane was one of three that departed from Republic Airport in Farmingdale, Long Island. Only two planes returned, they said.

FAA officials said they got a report that the aircraft went down two miles south of the George Washington Bridge.

A witness said the plane and one other flew low toward the water but when the other plane pulled up, the crash plane kept going into the water.

The plane was from the American Airpower Museum at Republic Airport in Farmingdale and had been slated to perform in this weekend's Jones Beach Air Show, NBC4 reported.