The ''Wingfoot Air Express'' was a non-rigid

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

(i.e.

blimp A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is an airship (dirigible) without an internal structural framework or a keel. Unlike semi-rigid and rigid airships (e.g. Zeppelins), blimps rely on the pressure of the lifting gas (usually helium, rather than hydr ...

) that crashed into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

on Monday July 21, 1919. The Type FD dirigible, owned by the

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tire manufacturing company founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling and based in Akron, Ohio. Goodyear manufactures tires for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, motorcycles, S ...

, was transporting people from Grant Park to the

White City amusement park White City is the common name of dozens of amusement parks in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Inspired by the White City and Midway Plaisance sections of the World's Columbian Exhibition of 1893, the parks started gaining in p ...

. One crew member, two passengers and ten bank employees were killed in what was, up to that point, the worst dirigible disaster in United States history.

The crash

Bank of illinois after the wingfoot express crash

The airship's flammable hydrogen caught fire for unknown reasons at about 4:55pm while cruising at an altitude of over the

Chicago Loop The Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in Nort ...

. When it became clear the dirigible was failing, pilot Jack Boettner and chief mechanic Harry Wacker used parachutes to jump to safety. A second mechanic, Carl Alfred Weaver, died when his parachute caught fire, while passenger Earl H. Davenport, a publicity agent for the White City Amusement Park, had his parachute get tangled in the cables which suspended the gondola from the envelope, leaving him hanging fifty feet below the burning craft; he was killed instantly when the airship crashed. The fifth person who parachuted from the dirigible, ''

Chicago Daily News The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. History The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty ...

'' photographer Milton Norton, broke both legs on landing and later died in hospital. At the Illinois Trust & Savings Bank building at the northeast corner of

LaSalle Street LaSalle Street is a major north-south street in Chicago named for Robert de La Salle, a 17th century French explorer of the Illinois Country. The portion that runs through the Chicago Loop is considered to be Chicago's financial district. Sout ...

and

Jackson Boulevard Jackson Boulevard is a street in Chicago, in whose grid system it is 300 South. Named for President Andrew Jackson, it is adjacent to Van Buren Street named for Jackson's associate Martin Van Buren. The Jackson Boulevard Bridge carries it acros ...

, 150 employees were closing for the day in and around the main banking hall, which was illuminated by a large skylight. The remains of the ''Wingfoot'' struck the bank's skylight, with flaming debris falling through to the banking hall below. Ten employees were killed and 27 injured as a result.

Aftermath

In addition to causing the city of Chicago to adopt a new set of rules for aviation over the city, the crash led to the closing of the Grant Park Airstrip and the creation of

Chicago Air Park Chicago Midway International Airport , typically referred to as Midway Airport, Chicago Midway, or simply Midway, is a major commercial airport on the Southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, located approximately 12 miles (19 km) from the Ch ...

References

Blimp Burns, Kills 11, Chicago Daily Tribune, July 22, 1919 http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1919/07/22/page/1/article/blimp-burns-kills-11

The crash

Aftermath

See also

References

Further reading