Crash over Ontario with no survivors
American Airlines Flight 1 NC25663, the aircraft involved in the accident |
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| Date | October 30, 1941 (1941-10-30) |
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| Summary | Undetermined |
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| Site | Lawrence Station, Elgin County, Ontario, Canada
42°45′45″N 81°24′20″W / 42.762516°N 81.405637°W / 42.762516; -81.405637 |
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| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-3-277B |
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| Aircraft name | Flagship Erie |
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| Operator | American Airlines |
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| Registration | NC25663 |
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| Flight origin | New York City |
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| 1st stopover | Newark, New Jersey |
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| 2nd stopover | Buffalo, New York |
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| 3rd stopover | Detroit, Michigan |
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| Last stopover | South Bend, Indiana |
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| Destination | Chicago, Illinois |
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| Occupants | 20 |
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| Passengers | 17 |
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| Crew | 3 |
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| Fatalities | 20 |
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| Survivors | 0 |
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American Airlines Flight 1,[a] dubbed "the New Yorker",[3] was a regularly scheduled passenger flight. On October 30, 1941, when the route was a multiple stop flight from La Guardia Airport to Chicago Municipal Airport with intermediate stops at Newark, New Jersey; Buffalo, New York; Detroit, Michigan; and South Bend, Indiana, on the flight's leg between Buffalo and Detroit, the American Airlines Douglas DC-3-277B operating the route crashed into a wheat field approximately one half mile east of the town of Lawrence Station, Ontario, southwest of London. All aboard, including 17 passengers and 3 crew, were killed.[4] It was the second of three fatal crashes during an operation of American Airlines Flight 1.
Accident
At 9:07 p.m., the plane departed from Buffalo. When the plane arrived near the area where the accident occurred, the plane started to descend, circled to the right and banked normally for the radius and speed of the turns. The diameter of the initial circle was approximately 1+1⁄2 miles; thereafter during the descent the radius progressively diminished. After completing approximately four circles, the airplane recovered from the spiral in close proximity to the ground, climbed suddenly to an altitude of about 200 to 500 feet and may have stalled. It then dived to the ground, striking in a nose-down attitude at an angle of approximately 70 degrees with the horizontal, and immediately burst into flames. Everyone onboard was killed.[5]
Cause
The probable cause of the crash was not determined in the published Civil Aeronautics Board accident report.[5]
Memorial
At the crash site, a plaque was erected on 10 September 2018 by Ray Lunn of the Southwold SS12 school committee, with help from the Green Lane Community Trust and the Southwold Township History Committee, to outline the events that unfolded in that accident and remember the victims of the accident.[1][2]
Book
In 2008, Robert D. Schweyer of Jarvis, Ontario, finished writing the book, Final Descent: The Loss of the Flagship Erie. Schweyer died[6] from cancer before the book could be published. His family were able to complete the final necessities to have the book published and available for distribution in 2014.
Stage Play
A stage play about the accident, Lawrence Station: The Crash of American Airlines Flagship Erie, was written by Len Cuthbert and produced April 14-29, 2023, in Shedden, Ontario, Strathroy, Ontario and London, Ontario, by Fridge Door Live Theatre Company. The production was supported by Green Lane Community Trust, Township of Southwold, Wright Family Foundation, and seed money for writing from the Ontario Arts Council.
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