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81-year-old pilot killed when vintage plane crashes into bank

LONG VIEW, N.C. — Emergency officials in Catawba County said the pilot of a vintage aircraft has died after the plane crashed into a BB&T bank in Long View.

Catawba County Emergency Manager Karen Yaussy said 81-year-old George Baxter Harris of the Hickory area was the only person onboard the Culver PQ-14A when it crashed Saturday around 1:10 p.m.

The Federal Aviation Administration says the aircraft was headed to Hickory Regional Airport when it crashed, adding that it had also left from the airport earlier.

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force says on its web page that the Culver Aircraft Corp. built three basic models in quantity for the Army in 1940. The PQ series was initially designed as radio-controlled target aircraft for training anti-aircraft artillery gunners for the Army and the Navy.

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