09/17/1908 First airplane fatality in history 03/31/1931 Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne killed 03/28/1933 First airline disaster caused by sabotage 01/15/1934 Air France Dewoitine D-332 crashes after entering severe snowstorm 08/15/1935 Will Rogers, Wiley Post killed, Point Barrow Alaska 03/25/1937 Trans Continental and Western Airline DC-2, Clifton Pennsylvania 05/06/1937 Hindenburg destroyed at Lakehurst, New Jersey 10/30/1941 Northwest Orient Airlines plane crashes, pilot only survivor, Moorhead, Minnesota 01/16/1942 Actress Carole Lombard killed, Mt. Potosi, Nevada 08/25/1942 George Edmund, Duke of Kent killed, Dunbeath, Scotland 07/28/1945 Military B-25 crashes into the Empire State Building, New York, NY 10/20/1948 KLM Constellation runs into power lines and crashes 09/09/1949 Husband places bomb aboard to collect insurance on his wife, Quebec, Canada 05/04/1949 All team members of the Torino Soccer Team killed, Superga, Italy 11/01/1949 U.S. Reps, George Bates and Michael Kennedy killed, Arlington, Virginia 08/24/1951 Collision into Tolman peak, Decoto, California 12/16/1951 Engine fire, Miami Airlines, Elizabeth, New Jersey 09/05/1954 KLM Constellation, ditches into the Shannon River, Foynes, Ireland 10/06/1955 DC-4 slams into side of Medicine Bow Peak 11/01/1955 Son places bomb in mother's luggage to collect insurance, United Airlines, Longmont, CO 06/30/1956 Midair collision between a United Airlines DC-7 and TWA Constellation, Grand Canyon, AZ 02/01/1957 Northeast Airlines DC-6 crashes at Rikers Island, New York 02/06/1958 British European Airways accident involving the Manchester United football team 03/02/1958 Director, producer Mike Todd killed, Grants, New Mexico 02/03/1959 Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly, Big Bopper killed, Mason City, Iowa 02/03/1959 American Airlines Electra crashes into the East River, New York, New York Some photographs are the copyright property of their original sources Back to Photo Index