November 1, 1949: U.S. representative
George Bates (58) of Massachusetts and U.S.
representative Michael Kennedy (52) of New
York were among 56 people killed when a U.S. Air Force P-38 collided with an
Eastern Air Lines DC-54B over Arlington, Virginia. The pilot, testing the plane
for a South American country, survived the crash but all aboard the commercial airliner were killed.
November 4, 1967: On her way back home
from Malaga, British actress June Thorburn
(36) was killed along with 36 other passengers and crew when their Iberia
Airlines Caravelle crashed into the side of Blackdown Hill near London. The jet
crashed as it was making its final approach into London. Authorities believe the
jet exploded in flight. It tore into a 100-foot oak tree, gouged windows out of
a farmhouse, and came to rest in buckled fragments halfway up a 900-foot
hillside.
November 4, 2008: Mexican Interior
Minister Juan Camilo Mourino, who was in
charge of Mexico's anti-drug efforts, and former anti-drug prosecutor
Jose Luis Santiago Vanconcelos were killed
along with six others when their small government plane crashed into a busy road
in a wealthy section of Mexico City (after narrowly missing several high-rise
office buildings). Five people were also killed on the ground.
November 9, 1929: Pioneer aviators
Carl Ben Eielsen and
Earl Borland were killed when their plane was wrecked in Siberia.
November 11, 1944: British air chief
marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory (52) and
his wife Dora were killed when their RAF Avro York airliner crashed in mountains
west of Grenoble, France while en route to India where Mallory was to lead the
Allied Air Forces in Southeast Asia. He was the brother of George Mallory, who
died while attempting to climb Mount Everest in June 1924 (last seen about 800
feet below the summit).
November 12, 1999: A United Nations ATR
42 turboprop carrying officials from the World Food
Program crashed near Pristina in Kosovo. 24 people, including the
crew, were killed in the crash. The WFP was responsible for supplying food aid
to about 900,000 people in the war-scarred Serbian province.
November 12, 2001: 250 people on board
American Airlines flight 587 and five people on the ground were killed when the
jetliner crashed on Rockaway Point minutes after taking off from Kennedy
International Airport. Among those killed were the mother and sister of
Dominican baseball pitcher Yorkis Perez.
November 14, 1970: 75 people, including
43 Marshall University football players and
coaches, were killed when a Southern Airways DC-9 crashed in the mountains just
short of the Huntington, West Virginia, Tri-State Airport.
November 16, 1937: The
Grand Duke and Duchess of Hess were among 11
people killed when a Sabena Junkers JU-52 airplane crashed near Ostende,
Belgium.
November 18, 1967: Engineer
James Grant Ghormley (42), inventor of the
chain drive mechanism for the modern offset printing press and co-founder of
Vanguard Press, was killed in the crash of his P-51 airplane.
November 20, 2002:
Henry Taylor Howard (70), a pioneer in the satellite television
industry, was killed when the single-engine airplane he was piloting crashed
shortly after taking off from the San Andreas, California airport.
November 21, 1998: Actor
William Gardner Knight (56) was killed when his
Burgess RV-6 light plane crashed as he was trying to land at Lee Airport in
Edgewater, Maryland. Knight, who had appeared in such movies as Wall Street
and Born on the Fourth of July, might have taken Viagra before the flight
and been unable to distinguish colors on the cockpit flight panel and in airport
lighting. It was the first time Viagra was associated with a plane crash. Note:
It's also possible that he simply ran out of fuel.
November 22, 1941: German air ace
Werner Mölders (28), the first ace to achieve a
100 kills, died when a Heinkel He-111 airliner lost an engine and crashed in bad
weather while attempting to land at Breslau-Gandau, Germany. He had been on his
way from Crimea to the Berlin state funeral of Ernst Udet, a great aerobatic pilot.
November 22, 1947: French general
Philippe Leclerc (45), who led the Allied force
which liberated Paris in August 1944, was among those killed when a French
military transporter crashed in the Sahara desert.
November 23, 1982:
Grady Lee Nutt of Hee Haw fame was the
guest speaker at a youth rally and banquet in Cullman, Alabama. Later that night
he and two employees of Central American Airways in Louisville were killed when
the plane in which they were flying crashed soon after taking off from the airport in Vinemont, Alabama.
November 24, 1956: Orchestra conductor
Guido Cantelli was one of 23 people who died
when a Linee Aeree Italiane DC-6B airplane crashed on taking off from Paris, France.
November 24, 2001: Singer
Melanie Thornton died when a Crossair Avro
RJ100 Jumbolino crashed outside Zurich, Switzerland as it attempted to land.
Formerly with the group LaBouche, Thornton had just gone solo with her debut
album titled Ready to Fly. Among the ten others killed were
Maria Serrano-Serrano and
Nathaly van het Ende (27) of the German dance-music group Passion Fruit.
November 25, 1985: Members of the
Iowa State University women's cross-country team
died when their plane crashed in Des Moines, Iowa.
November 25, 2207: Several descendents of
the founders of the Mayo Clinic died after their plane flipped, crashed,
and disintegrated into flames as they were trying to land under heavy winds at the Faribault,
Minnesota airport. Dr. Chester W. P. Mayo
(51) was bringing his son, Chester Mayo Jr.
(17) back to boarding school at Shattuck-St. Mary's School after the Thanksgiving break when
his 2007 Cirrus SR22 crashed during his second landing attempt. Two other
people, Lyn Creger (19) and Jay Wang, also died in the crash.
November 26, 1999:
William “Tiger” Warren, founder of Macheezmo Mouse restaurants and
his three boys (Jack, 14; Will, 13; and Rob 9) were killed when their De
Havilland Beaver float plane crashed into the Columbia River 45 miles east of Portland, Oregon.
November 27, 1956: St. Louis Cardinal
outfielder Charlie Peete was killed in a
plane crash in Venezuela.
November 28, 2004: A plane carrying NBC
executive Dick Ebersol and two of his sons (with actress Susan St. James)
crashed in Colorado. Dick Ebersol and son Charles survived, but son
Teddy Ebersol (14) died, as did the pilot
and flight attendant. Dick Ebersol is chairman of NBC television sports and was
formerly an executive producer of Saturday Night Live.
November 29, 1975: Formula 1 race car
driver Graham Hill (46) was killed when he
got lost in a heavy fog and crashed his Piper PA-23-250 Aztec near Elstree
Airport near Hertfordshire, England. Five passengers were also killed in the
crash, including Grand Prix race car driver Tony Brise (23).
