Two dead in plane crash near Vancouver, Wash.

A one-engine airplane crashed Friday afternoon east of Vancouver, and a father and son were found dead in the wreckage, state and federal authorities said.

The propeller-driven Yakovlev Yak-52 crashed about 4:30 p.m. in a rural area between Vancouver and Camas on a flight to Vancouver from Klamath Falls, Ore., said Mike Fergus, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman in Seattle, and Vancouver fire Capt. Kevin Murray.

There was no fire, but the fuselage of the plane, registered to a partnership in Vancouver, was found in two pieces in a meadow largely surrounded by trees, Murray said.

He identified the pair who died in the crash as the pilot, Benjamin J. Runyan, 66, a retired Delta Airlines pilot who owned a private airstrip in the area, and the passenger, Benjamin Runyan Jr., 31, of Houston.

Joyce Morgan, who lives near the crash scene, told KATU Television of Portland, Ore., she heard the plane go down.

"It sounded like a plane that had taken off," she said, "but it was awfully close. I could tell it was really low when it was across our field.

The first Yak-52 was flown in 1976 after being designed as a trainer for students who later advanced to flying Soviet jet planes.

More than 1,800 have been produced and more than 1.200 remain airworthy worldwide, according to the Web site http://www.warbirdalley.com. The Yak-52 is now made by Aerostar in Bacau, Romania, and is flown by recreational aviators in countries ranging from the United States to New Zealand.

The one that crashed was an old Soviet military plane the elder Runyan had restored, The Columbian of Vancouver reported.