American Airlines Flight 1 (1941)

American Airlines Flight 1
NC25663, the aircraft involved in the accident
Accident
DateOctober 30, 1941 (1941-10-30)
SummaryUnknown
SiteLawrence Station, Southwold, Ontario, Canada
42°45′45″N 81°24′20″W / 42.762516°N 81.405637°W / 42.762516; -81.405637
Aircraft
Aircraft typeDouglas DC-3-277B
Aircraft nameFlagship Erie
OperatorAmerican Airlines
RegistrationNC25663
Flight originNew York City
1st stopoverNewark, New Jersey
2nd stopoverBuffalo, New York
3rd stopoverDetroit, Michigan
Last stopoverSouth Bend, Indiana
DestinationChicago, Illinois
Occupants20
Passengers17
Crew3
Fatalities20
Survivors0

American Airlines Flight 1, dubbed "the New Yorker", was a regularly scheduled passenger flight. On October 30, 1941, when the route was a multiple stop flight from La Guardia Airport to Chicago Municipal Airport with intermediate stops at Newark, New Jersey; Buffalo, New York; Detroit, Michigan; and South Bend, Indiana, on the flight's leg between Buffalo and Detroit, the American Airlines Douglas DC-3-277B operating the route crashed into a wheat field approximately one half mile east of the town of Lawrence Station, Ontario, southwest of London. All aboard, including 17 passengers and 3 crew, were killed. It was the second of three fatal crashes during an operation of American Airlines Flight 1.