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Plane Disaster, St. Lawrence 1941

Plane Disaster, St. Lawrence 1941

Posted: 18 Jul 2002 12:21PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 25 Oct 2006 12:31AM GMT
Surnames: HOWE
I just learned about a plane crash on my relatives’ farm in 1941 and wonder if anyone might be able to lookup up any newspaper articles related to this event. According to the poster “The Howes were farmers and in October 1941 an American Airlines aircraft crashed on the Howe's farm near the farmhouse. (The airline route between Detroit and Buffalo in those days was over Lawrence.) Twenty-one people perished in the crash. The cause of the crash was never determined."

A site listing plane disasters offers supporting evidence:

ACCIDENT DETAILS
Date: October 30, 1941
Time: 22:10
Location: St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada
Operator: American Airlines
Flight #: 1
Route: New York - Buffalo - Chicago - Detroit
AC Type: Douglas DC-3
Registration: NC25663
cn / ln: 2207
Aboard: 20 (passengers:17 crew:3)
Fatalities: 20 (passengers:17 crew:3)
Ground: 0
Summary: The aircraft, on a flight from New York to Chicago, circled a wooded area 3 or 4 times looking for a landing spot before stalling and diving into a plowed field. Cause unknown.

Any additional information about this event and/or the HOWE family is much appreciated!

Re: Plane Disaster, St. Lawrence 1941

Posted: 16 Jan 2004 1:47PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Ward, Target, Smith, Roberts, Wiley, Pratt, Seaton, Grawburg, Fulcher, Loynes, Henwood
Hi Deborah,
While helping the genealogy society to transcribe the St Thomas Times Journal for 1941, I ran across the plane crash on the farm of Thompson Howe, near Lawrence Station on Oct 30 1941. The write up appears on Friday Oct 31 1941. The only reference to the Howe family:
"From his farm home a quarter of a mile away Thompson Howe ran to the burning wreckage in his oat field. Neighbours, Provincial Police and officers from the Royal Canadian Air Force school at Fingal joined him. They could do nothing but watch the roaring fire."

The article on page one lists the names of 17 passenger and 3 crew who died, then skips to page 10, which is missing from the copy I have of the newspaper.

Hope this helps,
Best Wishes
Carol

Re: Plane Disaster, St. Lawrence 1941

Posted: 16 Jan 2004 1:55PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 25 Oct 2006 12:31AM GMT
Surnames: Howe
Thanks for the reply. I was actually able to obtain copies of many of the newspaper articles about this site. I have uploaded them to my Rootsweb web site. The articles can be viewed at:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~timemachine/

From the homepage, there is a link "Ontario Plane Crash" which will get you to the right place!

Debi

Gen Society

Posted: 16 Jan 2004 2:07PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 25 Oct 2006 12:31AM GMT
Surnames: Howe
I couldn't figure out how to write you privately. Is it possible to request a look-up for an obituary? I am having some difficulties locating Robert (James) Howe and wife Emma (or Emily). They lived in the London area from 1881. I can be reached at deb.reichert @ comcast.net

Re: Plane Disaster, St. Lawrence 1941

Posted: 25 Apr 2015 11:46PM GMT
Classification: Query
A book on the crash of a DC-3 at Lawrence Station has been written and published by Robert D. Schweyer. The title of the book is Final Descent and is obtainable from various book stores in Ontario. Try the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum at Mount Hope near Hamilton

DR
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