Curtis P-1B Hawk - July 2, 1927 - Ottawa, Ontario - Plane Crash Sites on Waymarking.com

On July 2, 1927, twelve P-1B airplanes under command of Major Thomas G. Lanphier, Air Corps, proceeded from Selfridge Field, Mt Clemons, MI, to Ottawa, Canada. They were acting as Special Escort for Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh, who had been invited to attend Canada's Diamond Jubilee. First Lieutenant J. Thad Johnson, Air Corps, commanding 27th Pursuit Squadron, was killed in an unsuccessful parachute jump after a collision with another plane on arrival at the Hunt Club Field. First Lieutenant Johnson received a state funeral on the orders of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. Colonel Lindbergh swooped low and dropped flowers over Union Station as the funeral train departed Ottawa.

The Hunt Club Field, now the Macdonald-Cartier International Airport, was originally opened at Uplands on a high plateau by the Ottawa Flying Club, which still operates from the field. The posted coordinates will take you to this location. A street, Thad Johnson Private, leading to the airport industrial section, has been named after the famed aviator.

An article which appeared in the Spokesman Review, on July 3, 1927, reads as follows:

"An aerial tragedy marred Colonel Charles A. Lindberg's arrival here today to attend the celebration of Canada's Diamond Jubilee of Confederation.

Lieutenant J. Thad Johnson, an American army flyer, met death when his plane, one of 12 which escorted the transatlantic hero from Selfridge Field, Detroit, crashed within view of the Hunt Club landing field, six miles from Ottawa. Lindberg and a number of the escorting planes already had landed when the accident occurred. A misunderstanding of Lieutenant Johnson's maneuvers was given as the cause.

According to the pilot of the plane behind him, he started downward as if to land, but suddently rose again to resume his place in the formation. The plane in the rear nicked the tail of his machine, throwing him into a nose dive, a bare 100 feet from the ground.

Lieutenant Johnson was quickly overboard, striving desperately to open his parachute, but the drop was too short. The parachute opened, but not sufficiently to break the fall, and the flyer was instantly killed. His plane crumpled in a cloud of dust just over the brow of a hill and out of sight of the crowd on the fields."

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Web Address for Related Web Sites: [Web Link] Date of Crash: 07/02/1927 Aircraft Model: Curtiss P-1B Hawk Military or Civilian: Military Cause of Crash: According to the pilot of the plane behind him, First Lieutenant Johnson started downward as if to land, but suddently rose again to resume his place in the formation. The plane in the rear nicked the tail of his machine, throwing him into a nose dive, a bare 100 feet from the ground. Tail Number: Not listed

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