The Wingfoot Air Express was a non-rigid airship (i.e. blimp) that crashed into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago on Monday July 21, 1919. The Type FD dirigible, owned by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, was transporting people from Grant Park to the White City amusement park.[1] One crew member, two passengers and ten bank employees were killed in what was, up to that point, the worst dirigible disaster in United States history.

Wingfoot Air Express crash

Wingfoot Air Express
Accident
Date	July 21, 1919
Summary	In-flight fire
Site	Chicago, Illinois, United States 41°52′41.25″N 87°37′56.28″W
Total fatalities	13
Total injuries	27
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Type FD dirigible
Aircraft name	Wingfoot Air Express
Operator	Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
Flight origin	Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois
Destination	White City amusement park, Chicago, Illinois
Passengers	2
Crew	3
Fatalities	3 (2 passengers, 1 crew)
Injuries	0
Survivors	2 (2 crew)
Ground casualties
Ground fatalities	10
Ground injuries	27

The crash

The airship's flammable hydrogen caught fire for unknown reasons at about 4:55 pm while cruising at an altitude of 1,200 ft (370 m) over the Chicago Loop.[2] When it became clear the dirigible was failing, pilot Jack Boettner and chief mechanic Harry Wacker used parachutes to jump to safety.[3] A second mechanic, Carl Alfred Weaver, died when his parachute caught fire, while passenger Earl H. Davenport, a publicity agent for the White City Amusement Park, had his parachute get tangled in the cables which suspended the gondola from the envelope, leaving him hanging fifty feet below the burning craft; he was killed instantly when the airship crashed.[4] The fifth person who parachuted from the dirigible, Chicago Daily News photographer Milton Norton, broke both legs on landing and later died in hospital.[5]

At the Illinois Trust & Savings Bank[6] building at the northeast corner of LaSalle Street and Jackson Boulevard, 150 employees were closing for the day in and around the main banking hall, which was illuminated by a large skylight. The remains of the Wingfoot struck the bank's skylight, with flaming debris falling through to the banking hall below. Ten employees were killed and 27 injured as a result.

Aftermath

In addition to causing the city of Chicago to adopt a new set of rules for aviation over the city, the crash led to the closing of the Grant Park Airstrip and the creation of Chicago Air Park.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wingfoot Air Express crash.

• List of airship accidents

References

["Blimp Burns, Kills 11, Chicago Daily Tribune, July 22, 1919 http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1919/07/22/page/1/article/blimp-burns-kills-11]

Further reading

• Krist, Gary. City of Scoundrels: The Twelve Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago. New York, NY: Crown Publisher, 2012. ISBN 978-0-307-45429-4.
• The Columns, Illinois Trust and Savings Bank, July 1919
• Rules adopted by the Chicago City Council, Journal of the Proceedings, April 8, 1921, p. 2230.