Turners Falls, Massachusetts – September 20, 1943
At about 3:00 p.m., on September 20, 1943, a Pitcairn PCA-3 Autogyro, NC11612 took off from Turners Falls Airport in Montague, Massachusetts, and crashed about a half hour afterwards about one mile west-northwest of the airport. The pilot, Donald Whitman was seriously injured.
Whitman was test flying the aircraft for the Department of Agriculture, flying low at tree-top level to simulate aerial spraying which was what the autogyro was to be used for. At one point the landing gear snagged some electrical wires which caused the accident. The wires were stretched between poles which were partially hidden by dense foliage.
Source: Civil Aeronautics Investigation Report 4066-43, May 19, 1944.