All seems a bit overheated to me !! For a start, the guy was the son of one of America's great "The Right Stuff" test-pilots, Major Deutschendorf, and as such,would probably have had a better-than-average knowledge of the principles of flight generally,and maybe even a genetic predisposition to "natural flying ability".However,I have spoken to various people who saw JD "live" and have said that he was,in some instances,so drunk that he could hardly stand up.Add to that his rather "hippy" nature and laid-back life-style and philosophy,and you don't necessarily have the makings of a "master of the skies" !! Plus the fact that,despite what people think,American aircraft are not always the best in the world !!Now, I have to say that I do not know much about the machine that JD was flying at the time of his fatal accident, but my father flew all his wartime "operations"over Germany in B17 F & G marques of the Boeing "Flying Fortress", and they were notorious for being underpowered and quite unable to carry a worthwhile bomb-load compared to,for example, the Lancaster ,or Stirling.
   Despite that,I was a great JD fan, and loved his music, although I cannot say that he was a great actor ( I hated his films), and his "live" TV appearances with,for example,Frank Sinatra,were excruciatingly AWFUL ! At least he died doing what he undoubtedly loved, even if he wasn't very good at it . HUMANUM EST ERRARE !!