Bridgeport Airport Crash | New England Aviation History

Stratford, CT. – March 15, 1943

February 9, 2019

Stratford, Connecticut – March 15, 1943

F4U Corsair
US Navy Photo

On March 15, 1943, Chance-Vought civilian test pilot Boone T. Guyton, was piloting an F4U-1 Corsair, (Bu. No. 02157), over the Stratford area. The aircraft had been brought to Chance-Vought and converted to a XF4U-3, with experimental equipment added. Mr. Guyton was testing the performance of the aircraft when the engine suddenly failed forcing him to make an emergency landing at Bridgeport Airport, (Today known as Sikorsky Memorial Airport.) Upon landing the aircraft struck a cement retaining wall. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair, and the pilot was seriously injured.

Investigation determined that one of the rods in the engine had seized causing the engine failure.

Guyton survived an earlier crash landing in Norwich, Connecticut, on July 11, 1940. Click here for more information.

Boone Guyton, (1913 – 1996), was a well known test pilot and navy veteran. He wrote a book of his experiences called “Whistling Death: The Test Pilot’s Story Of The F4U Corsair, published in 1991 and 1997.

Source:

U.S. Navy accident report #43-6245, dated March 15, 1943

Stratford, CT – July 23, 1933

December 30, 2015

Stratford, Connecticut – July 23, 1933

James A. Mollison and his wife Amy Johnson were two famous aviators, each in their own right. In July of 1933 they decided to fly their private aircraft, Seafarer, (British registration G-ACCV) across the Atlantic Ocean from Pendine Sands, Wales, to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York. After flying 3, 190 miles in 39 hours, they found themselves over Bridgeport Airport in Stratford, Connecticut. (Today the airport is known as Sikorsky Memorial Airport.)

By this time fatigue had set in for both flyers, and the aircraft was also dangerously low on fuel, so landing at the airport seemed their only option as it was clear they’d never make it to Brooklyn. The Seafarer made several aborted landing attempts before flying out over the marshlands where the Housatonic River empties into Long Island Sound. It was there the plane made a crash landing in the weeds and flipped over in the muck. Fortunately both husband and wife weren’t seriously injured, and only required a brief hospital stay.

The Seafarer was custom built by de Havilland for the couple.

Videos of this aircraft and the crash site can be found on Youtube.

Source:

New York Times, “Mollisons Crash At Bridgeport: Both Are Injured, Plane Wrecked; Had Flown From Wales in 39 Hours”, July 24, 1933, pg. 1