1938 Santa Ana air show disaster
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A similar Hawk II of the Colombian Air Force | |
| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 24 July 1938 |
| Summary | Pilot error |
| Site | Campo de Marte, Bogota, Colombia |
| Crew | 1 |
| Injuries (non-fatal) | 100+ (on ground) |
| Fatalities | 53 (including 52 on ground)[1] |
| Aircraft type | Curtiss Hawk II |
| Operator | Colombian Air Force |
The 1938 Santa Ana air show disaster occurred on 24 July 1938 at a military review on the Campo de Marte in the Santa Ana district of Bogota, Colombia. During the review, a Curtiss Hawk II biplane of the Colombian Air Force piloted by Lieutenant César Abadia performed a stunt before losing control and crashing into a grandstand and then into the crowd.
The pilot attempted to fly between the presidential stand and the stand for diplomats when he miscalculated the distance and the wing-tip struck the diplomatic stand, it destroyed part of the roof of the presidential stand and then careered through the crowd bursting into flames before it came to a stop upside down.[2] Over fifty people, including civilians and soldiers were killed, and over a hundred injured.[3] Among those in the presidential stand but uninjured were the outgoing Colombian President Alfonso López Pumarejo and his successor Eduardo Santos.[4] Among the wounded was Misael Pastrana Borrero, a future president of Colombia.
See also
- List of air show accidents and incidents
- Sknyliv air show disaster – another air show disaster caused by a single military aircraft and resulting in over 50 fatalities
References
- ↑ "Accident Details". Plane Crash info.com. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
- ↑ "Plane's Crash Into Crowd - 140 Killed and Injured" The Times (London). Tuesday, 26 July 1938. (48056), p. 12.
- ↑ "Accident Synopsis – 1938-28". planecrashinfo.com. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
- ↑ "Plane crashes into crowd as number killed". The Advertiser. 25 July 1938. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
External links
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