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In regards to "Heater":
He also received tailwheel instruction in my dad's Cub as well as the Great Lakes before transitioning into the DR1. It wasn't just a "Hey can I fly your airplane? Sure go ahead!" situation. Lots of theories I'm sure about this, but my understanding is that he was concerned about the lack of forward visibility and during his taxi runs kept asking for additional cushions to raise him up in the seat, to the point that he was sitting significantly higher in the cockpit than normal. Possibly leading to his body partially negating the slipstream around the rudder, ergo loss of rudder authority in the climbout. He was saved by the electrical wires crossing the road at the point that he put it in. A wing caught the wires as he was coming down and skewed the aircraft around as he hit the ground, saving him from a direct impact.
My understanding was that "Heater" (I think his real name was C.J. Heatley) was filming a special about WWI fighters versus Modern Day fighters. Intentions were for him to be able to personally compare the characteristics of each time period's aircraft. He was already qualified as a naval aviator in our nation's frontline fighter aircraft, flying the triplane was supposed to give him the comparison.
On a side note, Heatley was/is a noted photographer with his own book (can't remember name) of naval aviation pics, and was also very much involved with the movie "Top Gun" as a pilot and videographer for the air-to-air scenes.
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