Mansfield, MA. – September 1, 1929

January 27, 2026

Mansfield, Massachusetts – September 1, 1929

     On the afternoon of September 1, 1929, a 36-year-old pilot took off from Boltz Airport in Mansfield, (Today known as Mansfield Airport), in a Great Lake airplane powered by a 90 horsepower British Cirrus motor.  His intention was to take the plane on a solo test flight before returning to the airport to give a plane ride to two friends.  When the plane had reached an altitude of about 100 feet, it was seen to bank sharply into the wind before going into a tailspin and crashing to the ground.  Upon impact it burst into flames and the pilot perished.     

     The pilot was a World War I veteran and local businessman who’d been a pilot since the early spring.   

     It was believed that the accident occurred because the controls of the aircraft had frozen.

     Source:

     The Attleboro Sun, (Ma.), “Mansfield Pilot Is Killed In Smash”, September 3, 1929

Filed Under: Massachusetts - Civil Tagged With: , ,

Mansfield, MA. – June 26, 1955

January 27, 2026

Mansfield, Massachusetts – June 26, 1955

     On June 26, 1955, a man and woman took off from the Mansfield Airport in a Timm, low-wing, open-cockpit, single-engine monoplane.  The pilot was a 41-year-old professional pilot and parachute jumper.  His passenger was a 36-year-old woman well known in the community.  According to witnesses, the aircraft reached an altitude of about 400 feet when it abruptly dove towards the ground crashing nose first into a wooded area about 150 yards from Hall Street and a short distance from the Boltz Farm at 600 South Main Street.  Both occupants perished in the crash. 

     One witness stated that the plane appeared to be “laboring” leading to speculation that the aircraft may have experienced engine trouble.    

     Source:

      The Attleboro Sun, (Mass.), “Two Killed In Plane Crash At mansfield”, June 27, 1955.

Filed Under: Massachusetts - Civil Tagged With: , ,

Mansfield, MA. – October 29, 1971

March 2, 2024

Mansfield. Massachusetts – October 29, 1971

     On October 29, 1971, a 44-year-old pilot from Braintree, Mass., was not injured when he crashed his single engine airplane in a field on a farm located 100 yards away from the Mansfield Airport.  No further details are known.  

     Source: The Pawtucket Times, “Plane Crashes; Pilot Walks Away”, October 30, 1971, pg. 8

Filed Under: Massachusetts - Civil Tagged With: , ,

Norton, MA. – November 25, 1934

May 25, 2023

Norton, Massachusetts – November, 25, 1934

     On November 25, 1935, a 32-year-old pilot was stunt flying over the town of Norton, Massachusetts, with his younger brother and a female friend as passengers.  The plane was at 2,200 feet when the pilot put it into a tail spin, and then went into a power dive.  Just as the plane straightened out a wire holding a wing strut broke and the strut bent.  A section of wing fabric tore loose and began trailing behind the plane, before the wing suddenly broke away causing the plane to crash.  There were no survivors. 

     It was reported that the pilot had survived an earlier plane crash in an apple orchard about ten years earlier. 

     Source:

     The Bridgton News, “William P. Melcher Killed In Plane Crash At Norton”, November 30, 1934  

     Updated January 27, 2026

     Another account of this accident states that the pilot and a 22-year-old female passenger perished in this accident, with no mention of a third passenger. 

     In this account, William P. Melcher, (36), took off from Mansfield Airport in a Waco biplane with 22-year-old Ruby Rand of Norton, Mass. as a passenger.  While putting the plane through some aerobatics the left wing broke away and the plane went down in a swampy wooded area in Mansfield almost at the Norton town line, about 3/4 of a mile from the airfield.   It took searchers about an hour to find the wreckage.  Both the pilot and passenger were found to be deceased. 

     Source:

     Attleboro Sun, (Ma.), “Bodies of Ruby Rand, Pilot Melcher Found In wreckage In Brush”, November 26, 1934.

 

Filed Under: Massachusetts - Civil Tagged With: , , ,

Mansfield, MA. – October 30, 1986

May 13, 2019

Mansfield, Massachusetts – October 30, 1986     

     On October 30, 1986, a student pilot with his instructor were at the controls of a single-engine Cessna 152 making practice runs over the Mansfield Airport.  The student was wearing a special hood that only allowed him to see his instrument panel as he received training in instrument flying. 

     Meanwhile, a twin-engine Piper Navajo with three people aboard was passing through the area on its way from Providence to Boston’s Logan Airport.   Both aircraft collided in mid-air 2,500 feet over the airport    

     A portion of the Piper’s tail section penetrated the cockpit of the Cessna and broke off, and the instructor suffered a broken leg when it did so.  Additionally, one of the landing gear struts was also torn away by the impact.  Despite his injury, the instructor took control of the aircraft and made an emergency crash-landing at Mansfield airport.  The instructor was transported to a hospital for treatment.

     Meanwhile the Piper flew to Norwood Airport where it too made an emergency landing.  There were no reported injuries aboard the Piper.

     Sources:

     The Sun, (Lowell, Mass.), “One Person Hurt When Two Small Planes Collide”, October 31, 1986

     Providence Journal Bulletin, “Student Pilot Wearing Special Hood When Planes Collide In Mansfield”, November 1, 1986  

Filed Under: Massachusetts - Civil Tagged With: , , , ,
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