2 DIE IN PLANE CRASH : WWII CRAFT PLUMMETS ON APPROACH.

Byline: Kermit Pattison Daily News Staff Writer

Two people were killed Friday when a small plane crashed while trying to land at Santa Paula Airport.

The Ryan Aeronautical PT-22, a World War II-era two-seater, plummeted to the ground just east of the airport as it tried to make a turn for the final approach to the runway about 8:23 a.m., officials said.

``I heard the engine cough a couple of times,'' said Terry Madaus, who lives a few hundred feet from the crash site. ``Even my dog looked up. Before I even got to the door, I heard them hit the ground. It sounded like a bomb.''

The crash killed plane owner Richard Wagner, 62, of San Bernardino, a welfare fraud investigator; and Thomas Kelly, 42, of Riverside, a painting contractor, according to the Ventura County Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office.

Both men were killed on impact, said Senior Deputy Coroner Craig Stevens.

Wayne Pollack, an air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said both men were licensed pilots, and it remained unclear which one was flying the dual-control plane at the time of the crash.

Pollack said a preliminary investigation suggested the plane's controls were working properly. And he said investigators found plenty of fuel in the tanks and carburetor.

One police official said the plane was on its way to Santa Paula for maintenance work. But Pollack said crash investigators had been unable to confirm the report as of Friday afternoon.

The plane was constructed in 1942 as an Army training aircraft during World War II.

``It is reportedly a sensitive airplane to fly,'' Pollack said. ``Modern trainers are designed to be more forgiving.''

Pollack said the plane sat idle for about 10 years before its engine was overhauled in 1989. He said the plane passed an FAA inspection last April at Santa Paula Airport.

Investigators said the open-cockpit airplane took off from Riverside Municipal Airport about 7:20 a.m. after the two men got a weather briefing.

About one hour later, witnesses in Santa Paula reported hearing the plane's engine sputtering loudly as it approached the runway. But Pollack said investigators were unsure whether the plane was sputtering or whether witnesses were simply unaccustomed to hearing such an old engine.

Cmdr. Bob Gonzales of the Santa Paula Police Department said the plane tried to make a final turn toward the airport then plunged 300 to 400 feet into an empty field of a former sand and gravel mine.

``He banked a little bit, sliced to the left and nosed into the ground,'' Gonzales said.

Madaus said he ran from his house to the plane a short distance away but found both men dead. Ironically, he said he had been through the lot earlier that morning.

``I just had come back from taking the dog for a walk,'' he said. ``We went right through there.''

A few hours after the crash, the crumpled wreckage lay a few hundred feet short of the runway in a hardscrabble field of sand, rocks and brush. FAA investigators picked through the wreckage while neighbors gathered to watch.

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating.

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Photo: (color) Police and firefighters survey the wreckageof a World War II Ryan PT-22 that crashed short of the Santa Paula Airport's runway Friday.

Craig Mailloux/Daily News