American Airlines Flight 1 (1941)

Crash over Ontario with no survivors For other air crashes with the Flight number 1, see American Airlines Flight 1 (1962) and American Airlines Flight 1 (1936).

American Airlines Flight 1
Accident
NC25663, the aircraft involved in the accident
Date	October 30, 1941 (1941-10-30)
Summary	Unknown
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
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Douglas DC-3-277B
Aircraft name	Flagship Erie
Operator	American Airlines
Registration	NC25663
Flight origin	New York City
1st stopover	Newark, New Jersey
2nd stopover	Buffalo, New York
3rd stopover	Detroit, Michigan
Last stopover	South Bend, Indiana
Destination	Chicago, Illinois
Occupants	20
Passengers	17
Crew	3
Fatalities	20
Survivors	0

American Airlines Flight 1, dubbed "the New Yorker", 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. 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.

Cause

The probable cause of the crash was not determined in the published Civil Aeronautics Board accident report.

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.

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.

Notes

Some sources claim that the flight number was 1AM7 or 1 AM-7

References

^ "Crash of Flight 1AM7 no longer a forgotten tragedy". chathamdailynews.ca. 16 November 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
^ "A bond forged in Southwestern Ontario's forgotten airplane disaster". stthomastimesjournal.com. 9 September 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
"American Airlines 1941 timetable".
"CAB Docket SA-54" (PDF). 1942-03-13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-06-06. Retrieved 2017-12-04.
^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Douglas DC-3-277B NC25663 St. Thomas, ON". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2022-07-19.

External links

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American Airlines	Flight 1 1941 1962 Flight 2 Flight 009 Flight 11 Flight 28 Flight 63 July 1943 October 1943 December 2001 Flight 77 Flight 96 Flight 102 Flight 157 Flight 182 Flight 191 Flight 293 Flight 320 Flight 327 Flight 331 Flight 383 1965 2016 Flight 444 Flight 476 Flight 514 Flight 587 Flight 625 Flight 711 Flight 723 Flight 910 Flight 924 Flight 965 Flight 1420 Flight 1502 Flight 1572 Flight 6001 Flight 6780
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American Connection	Flight 5966

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Allied Pilots Association
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TWU-IAM Association
CWA/Teamsters Passenger Service Association

Category

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in Canada
1940s	American Airlines Flight 1 (October 1941) Saint-Donat RCAF Liberator III crash (October 1943) 1946 American Overseas Airlines Douglas DC-4 crash (October 1946) Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108 (September 1949)
1950s	Douglas C-54D disappearance (January 1950) British Columbia B-36 crash (February 1950) Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 9 (May 1954) Convent Crash (May 1956) Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810 (December 1956) Maritime Central Airways Flight 315 (August 1957) Pan Am Flight 115 (February 1959)
1960s	Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 831 (November 1963) Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 21 (July 1965) ČSA Flight 523 (September 1967)
1970s	Air Canada Flight 621 (July 1970) American Airlines Flight 96 (June 1972) Panarctic Oils Flight 416 (October 1974) TWA Flight 355 (September 1976) Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314 (February 1978) Air Canada Flight 189 (June 1978) Quebecair Flight 255 (March 1979)
1980s	Gimli Glider (July 1983) Pacific Western Airlines Flight 501 (March 1984) Arrow Air Flight 1285R (December 1985) Air Ontario Flight 1363 (March 1989)
1990s	Air Canada Flight 646 (December 1997) Propair Flight 420 (June 1998) Swissair Flight 111 (September 1998)
2000s	Korean Air Flight 085 (September 2001) MK Airlines Flight 1602 (October 2004) Air France Flight 358 (August 2005) Cougar Helicopters Flight 91 (March 2009) Northwest Airlines Flight 253 (December 2009)
2010s	Conair CV-580 crash (July 2010) Missinippi Airways Cessna 208 crash (July 2011) First Air Flight 6560 (August 2011) Air Canada Flight 624 (March 2015) West Wind Aviation Flight 282 (December 2017) Sky Lease Cargo Flight 4854 (November 2018)
2020s	Toronto Pearson International Airport heist (April 2023) Northwestern Air Flight 738 (January 2024)

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 1941 (1941)
Feb 26 Eastern Air Lines Flight 21Oct 30 Northwest Airlines Flight 5Oct 30 American Airlines Flight 1Dec 26 Alma-Ata G-2 crash
1940 ◄ ► 1942

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