Boston Airport – July 24, 1923

Boston Airport – July 24, 1923

     On the afternoon of July 24, 1923, Lieutenant Kitchell Snow of the 101st Observation Squadron of the Massachusetts National Guard,  took off from Boston Airport in a former British training aircraft.   There were two passengers aboard, Sergeant Oscar D. Lecain, and his cousin, 10-year-old Howard Carkin of North Chelmsford, Mass. 

     As the plane rose off the runway and headed out towards the water, the engine suddenly quit.  Not wanting to land in the water with two passengers aboard, Snow banked the plane back towards shore, and when he did the aircraft suddenly dove nose first into the mud flats.  

     The impact drove the motor into the cockpit crushing Lieutenant Snow. Both passengers survived.

     It was reported that Lieutenant Snow was “the second victim of accidents at the field since its opening in June.”  The particulars of the first accident weren’t stated. 

     Another accident involving a plane from the 101st Observation Squadron occurred on December 18, 1924, when Chester E. Wright, flying a JNS-1 (23-536) crashed in Boston Harbor.   

Source: Woonsocket Call, “Lieut. Snow Killed In Airplane Crash”, July 25, 1923, Pg. 5

 

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