Bowlus/Burnelli Crash
buttrick and SincoTC, you have more knowledge of Burnelli than most. Email me if you're interested in helping to get Burnelli's name back into the history books and into aerospace education. I'm workin' on it.
Yes, the first glider crashed but not from a design flaw or handling properties. Ballast was loaded without being secured. The backwash from the tow plane put the glider into a porpoise motion. This sent the unsecured ballast to one corner of the glider which, of course, severely altered the center of gravity. After that the glider was doomed.
The unknown guy who placed the ballast and failed to secure it most likely carried the most guilt for the crash and the deaths. Like Bowlus, I doubt he fully recovered from this. Probably just a kid at the time too.