Grafton, Massachusetts – July 21, 1929
On July 21, 1929, two men took off in a small plane from the Worcester Airport in Grafton. The passenger was a photographer, and the purpose of the flight was to fly over the Metropolitan Dam and take pictures. As the plane was returning to Grafton at an altitude of about 3,000 feet, the pilot decided to perform a loop the loop maneuver. According to witnesses, as the plane came out of the loop its fabric skin suddenly ripped away and billowed causing the aircraft to go into a dive and crash. Both men were killed instantly.
The Worcester Airport mentioned here is not the Worcester Airport in Worcester, Massachusetts. It was a private airfield that opened in Grafton on October 12, 1927.
Sources:
Providence Journal, “Loop Rips Plane, Crash Kills Two”, July 22, 1929
