When we were in Des Moines in 1998 for the Doobies NVF benefit show, Bruce
Cohn related the story of the Doobie Liner burning on the tarmac at the
airport in Norfolk, VA. I believe it was Labor Day weekend 1974 that this
happened (I'm not sure of the year, when the Doobies played in VA Beach
Labor Day Weekend 1998, that was the 24th or 25th anniversary of the plane
burning).
Anyway, the Doobies were on stage at an outdoor concert in Norfolk and Bruce
was working the soundboard. At some point during the set a police officer
runs up to Bruce and says, "How do we get on your plane?".
Naturally, Bruce's response was something along the lines of, "Yeah, right,
we're going to let you on our plane. Why do you want to get on our plane?"
"It's on fire!"
"You pull down on the outside handle and the door opens...". Like the fire
department needed to open the door to get in the plane...the fire had burned
right through the roof before the fire was discovered.
The band completes the show and heads back to the remnants of the Doobie
Liner, salvages what they can and charter another plane to move to the next
city. They have opinions as to what happened, but, probably better left
unsaid.
The airport in Norfolk used the plane for several years in training
exercises until it finally became unusable. Who knows where it rests now.
Laurin
