Chicago, IL National Air Race Accidents, Aug-Sept 1930

Builder Killed As Homemade Plane Crashes 40,000 See George Fernic Die in Drop at Chicago Races. Curtiss-Reynolds Airport, Chicago, Ill., Aug. 29. (AP).-A crowd of 40,000 horrorstricken spectators saw the small homemade plane of George Fernic, St. George, Staten Island, New York, rise from the field, pause in mid-air, then plunge sickeningly downward into a parked plane at the national air races Friday. Fernic, a Rumanian, was dead when pulled from the cockpit. His plane demolished a ship in which Miss Martie Bowman of Hempstead, Long Island, N.J., had just completed a closed course race. The famous aviatrix missed death by inches as the falling plane cleft through the fuselage of her ship. She and W.S. Allison of Cleveland had just stepped from her plane and were standing near by with a group of mechanics. Members of the group scurried to one side in time to escape injury. Second Major Crash. It was the second major crash witnessed by air race fans since the beginning of the meet and brought the total fatalities to three. Fenrics craft, of radical design, had taken off successfully. As it soared to the north end of the field at a low altitude it nosed skyward, made one backward loop and fell. Screaming in horror, thousand of spectators made a concerted rush onto the field, adding to the confusion. Guards were powerless to avert the movement and it was some time before a semblance of order was restored. Craft Was Homemade. Fernic had flown his plane to the air races, arriving Tuesday. He had designed and built the craft himself, placing on it a short auxiliary wing which he believed gave additional stability. In a larger plane of similar design, which he had intended to fly to Rumania, he crashed several months ago at Roosevelt Field, but was unhurt. The ship derived its energy from a motor of only seventy-horse power. Fenric had told friends he was pleased with the planes performance, but that it needed a more powerful engine. Witnesses blamed his fatal accident on insufficient power to pull the ship out of the loop. After Lindberghs Leave. The accident occurred about an hour after Col. and Mrs. Charles Al Lindbergh left the races for Detroit.

Colonel Lindbergh arrived Thursday afternoon, spent the night in Chicago and returned to the races shortly before noon, seeing more than four hours of the program. He and his wife were again perched in the chief judges booth above the grand stand, a partial retreat from the public gaze. Both expresses disappointment because they could not remain for the rest of the meet. Business, the Colonel said, forced their return to the East. Dallas Morning News, Dallas, TX 30 Aug 1930 --------Races Claim Third Victim New York Flier Plunges To Death Attempting Air Stunts Chicago, Aug. 30.-Curtiss-Reynolds Air Field.-The death toll had increased today to three as the National Air Races zoomed into their eighth day. The third person killed in a week of racing and stunting was George Fernic, aircraft designer of St. George, Staten Island, N.Y., who plunged to his death late yesterday in a plane he built. The ship, of radical design featuring a short auxiliary wing, fell far from the 40,000 spectators but in the midst of closely parked airplanes, smashing one. A short time before the crash, the crowds had waved an enthusiastic farewell to Colonel and Mrs. Charles A. Lindbergh as they took off for Detroit after a 24-hour visit at the races. Interest in todays program was divided between the races themselves and the prospect of seeing the latest men to make aviation history. Captain Wolfgang Von Gronau and his companions were due in the Dornier-Wall flying boat in which they flew the Atlantic. Brownsville Herald, Brownsville, TX 30 Aug 1930