Brainard Airport, Connecticut – August 29, 1928
On the morning of August 29, 1928, pilot Frederick J. Boots, (29) took off from Brainard Airport in a Monocoupe airplane. Once airborne he circled the field and appeared to be attempting to land when the plane suddenly fell from an altitude of about 100 feet and crashed nose first into the ground at the rear of the municipal hangar. Boots was taken to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
State aeronautical inspectors who investigated the accident concluded that due to this accident, and another which had occurred in Rhode Island a short time earlier, that Monocoupe airplanes “constitute a menace to the safety and aviation in this state” and therefor banned their use for the time being in Connecticut.
Mr. Boots had formerly been the chief pilot for Massachusetts Airways Inc. of Springfield, Mass., and had recently come to work for L & H Aircraft Company at Brainard Field.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/108732443/fred-julian-boots
Source:
The New Britain Herald, “Hartford Aviator Suffers Fatal Injuries When Plane Crashes At Brainard Field”, August 29, 1928, pg. 1