While I was stationed at MCAS El Toro (Orange county, Ca) in 1988, we had a much worse one during an airshow 24 April.
USMC Marine Col. Jerry Cadick, commanding officer of MAG-11 (Marine Air Group... composed of 4 squadrons), and due to retire in a few weeks, was doing a solo performance in one of his squadron's Hornets.
I can't remember what he was supposed to do on the pull-up from his low pass, but it was NOT what he actually tried... a loop.
The news had good footage of him realizing his mistake and applying full afterburner and pitching up... followed by dragging the tail along the ground, then slamming onto the ground in a ball of flame.
He survived (severe facial injuries from the control stick, as well as broken arm, elbow and ribs, an exploded vertebra and a collapsed lung), and got to do a "one-time retirement flight" (in a "B" model with an instructor-pilot carefully supervising from the rear seat) about 4 months later.
I drove past the plane every day for a few months (it was on a trailer next to the road into the Hornet hangar area), and it was an impressive sight. The engines had been ground off diagonally from the lower front to the upper rear just before the "feathers" (which were completely missing).
Here is the you-tube video of the crash:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keCnK4kh65U
The ATC didn't help his concentration, telling him he had to hurry up his routine due to being behind schedule
during his maneuvers!