Mendon Massachusetts Plane Crash | New England Aviation History

Mendon, MA. – August 14, 1931

January 16, 2023

Mendon, Massachusetts – August 14, 1931

On August 14, 1931, two 23-year-old women arrived at the Mendon Airport to take their first airplane ride. They were friends with the airport’s chief pilot who’d offered to take them on a sight seeing flight.

The aircraft they would be flying in was a new bi-plane.

The plane took off, but when it reached an altitude of about 750 feet the engine died and it spun to the ground and crashed in a wooded area about a mile from the airport. Among those who’d witnessed the crash was Mendon’s police chief, Arthur Brown.

The pilot and both passengers were transported to Milford Hospital with serious injuries. Within hours both women succumbed to their injuries. The pilot, although seriously injured, was expected to survive.

Sources:

Woonsocket Call, “2 Women lose Lives In Mendon Airplane Crash”, August 15, 1929.

The Evening Star, (Washington, D.C.), “Air Crash Kills Woman”, August 15, 1931.

The Waterbury Democrat, (Ct.), “Two Women Died When Plane Was Crashed Down”, August 15, 1931

Mendon, MA – August 2, 1931

February 15, 2018

Mendon, Massachusetts – August 2, 1931

On August 2, 1931, two men took off from an open field near the Pine Hill Cemetery in Mendon, Mass. The aircraft was an older model American Eagle airplane. The plane had barely left the ground when it struck a pole, and then a large pine tree, before it crashed onto Providence Street. Both men escaped with minor injuries, although the aircraft had sustained serious damage.

The pilot had landed in the field a short time earlier to make a quick repair.

Source:

The Woonsocket Call, (R.I.), “2 Men Injured Slightly When Plane Crashes”, August 3, 1931, page 1.