| Date/Time | Name / Group | Age | Notability | Location | Aircraft | Details | |
| Aug 31, 1940 | Ernest Lundeen |
62 | Minnesota U.S. Senator | Near Lovettsville, Virginia | Pennsylvania Central Airlines Douglas DC-3 NC21789 |
Flying through a thunderstorm in turbulence the plane nosed over and plunged to earth. Lightning strike disabled crew and caused loss of control. All 25 aboard killed. | PHOTO |
| Sept 7, 2940 | José Félix Estigarribia | 52 | President of Paraguay | Agapuey, Paraguay | Potez 25 | Died along with his wife in a plane crash. | |
| Jan 5, 1941 | Amy Johnson |
37 | Pioneer female aviator | Oxford, England | Airspeed AS10 Oxford Mk II | While ferrying an aircraft for the RAF from Prestwick to Kidington, she became lost in poor weather and parachuted into the Thames River and drowned. Her body was never recovered. 1 killed. | |
| Feb 20, 1941 20:00 |
Sir Fredrick Grant Banting |
49 | Canadian co-discoverer of insulin | Near Gander, Newfoundland | Lockheed Hudson MK III bomber T9449 |
Crashed into trees at the side of a lake, 10 miles out of Gander en route to England. Double engine failure. Banting died of his injuries a few days later. Three out of 4 aboard killed. | PHOTO |
| Feb 26, 1941 11:50 |
William Byron |
45 | Maryland U.S. Rep. | Jonesboro, Georgia |
Eastern Airlines Douglas DC-3 NC28394 |
The aircraft crashed into a hill in pine woods, near Chandler Field, while attempting to make an instrument landing approach in rain and fog. Pilot error. 9 of 16 aboard killed. | PHOTO |
| Dec 11, 1941 |
John Gillespie Magee Jr. |
19 | American pilot and poet | Roxholm, England |
VZ-H Spitfire V | Magee was killed when his VZ-H Spitfire V collided with an Oxford Trainer from Cranwell Airfield during World War II. 1 killed. | |
| Jan 16, 1942 19:23 |
Carole Lombard 33, movie actress real name Alice Jane Peters |
33 | American movie actress married to Clark Gabel. | Near Las Vegas, Nevada | Trans Con. & Western Airways Flight 3 Douglas DC-3 NC1946 |
Flight 3, crashed into Mt. Potosi. Lombard was returning from a war bond promotion. The aircraft drifted off course for reasons unknown. All 22 aboard killed including Lombard's mother and press agent. | PHOTO |
| Feb 8, 1942 |
Dr. Fritz Todt |
50 | Chief designer of the German autobahn. Third Reich minister for armaments and munitions. | Rastenburg, Germany | Junkers 52 | The aircraft crashed after exploding shortly after taking off. | |
| Aug 21, 1942 | Baron Carl-August von Gablenz |
48 | Founder of Lufthansa Airlines | Mühlberg/Elbe, Germany | Siebel Si 204 | von Gablenz's plane which he was piloting, crashed after experiencing mechanical failure. 2 killed. | |
| Aug 25, 1942 13:42 |
George Edmund |
39 | Duke of Kent | Near Dunbeath, Scotland | Short Sunderland DQ-M |
The plane crashed while on a flight to Iceland during WWII. The aircraft was part of the 228th Squadron RAF. The plane hit high ground at Eagle Rock in the Scottish Highlands in poor visibility. Possible navigation error but exact cause unknown. All 14 aboard killed. | |
| Oct 23, 1942 | Ralph Rainger |
41 | American composer and song writer | Palm Springs, California | Douglas DC-3 NC16017 |
Midair collision with an Army B-34 bomber. The bomber pilot attempted to draw attention to his friend the co-pilot in the airliner and struck the tail of the airliner. All 12 aboard the airliner killed. The bomber landed safely. | PHOTO |
| Jan 15, 1943 | Eric Mowbray Knight |
46 | American novelist | Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana | Douglas C-54 | Crashed into a jungle while on a secret mission during a WW II military flight on the way to the Casablanca Conference. All 35 aboard killed. | |
| Feb 22, 1943 | Ben Robertson Tamara Drasin |
40 34 |
American novelist Actress, singer |
Lisbon, Portugal Boeing 314 NC18603 |
Pan Am Boeing 314 NC18603 |
The flying boat was attempting to land when the left wing hit the water. Actress Jane Froman seriously injured. Twenty-five of 39 aboard killed. | PHOTO |
| Apr 18, 1943 | Admiral Isorok Yamamoto |
42 | Japanese naval commander | Kahili, Bougainville Solomon Islands |
Mitsubishi G4M Transport | Shot down by U.S. fighters. The allies knew where his plane would be after the Japanese code was broken. | |
| Jun 1, 1943 | Leslie Howard |
42 | English movie actor | Off the coast of France | British Overseas Airways Douglas DC-3 G-AGBB |
Shot down by German military aircraft. All 17 aboard killed. | PHOTO |
| Jun 2, 1943 | Nile Clark Kinnick Jr. |
24 | 1939 Heisman trophy winner at the University of Iowa | Over the Gulf of Paria in the Caribbean Sea | Navy fighter | Rather than land on a carrier and risk a fire, Kinnick ditched his fighter plane into the Caribbean Sea during a training flight after developing an oil leak. Kinnick and the aircraft were never found. | |
| Jul 4, 1943 | Wladyslaw Sikorski |
62 | Prime Minister of Poland in exile | Off Gibraltar | B24C Liberator A-L-523 |
Crashed into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after takeoff while on a flight to London. 12 of 13 aboard killed. | |
| Jul 21, 1943 | Charles Paddock |
43 | Olympic track star, Marine Captain, depicted in the film Chariots of Fire | Near Sitka, Alaska | Killed in the line of duty. The Navy plane he was flying in crashed near Sitka killing all 6 aboard. | ||
| Aug 31, 1943 |
Leonard Supulski |
23 | Football player for the Philidephia Eagles | Kearny, Nebraska | B-17 Flying Fortress 42-5451 |
Killed on a routine Army Air Corps training flight. All 8 aboard killed.. | PHOTO |
| Sep 21, 1943 |
John William Ditter |
55 | Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. | Colombia, Pennsylvania | Military plane Single engine | Ditter was flying on a Navy plane. The crew dropped flares in heavy rain but ultimately crashed and burned. | PHOTO |
| Oct 7, 1943 | Prince Christoph Ernst of Hesse-Casse |
42 | Royalty | Forli, Itay | Killed in an crash over the Italian Apennine mountains while on active duty. | ||
| Nov 27, 1943 | Edward O'Hare | 29 | American decorated war hero.Namesake of Chicago O'hare Airport | Pacific Ocean | F6F Hellcat | His plane was shot down in combat. | |
| Apr 12, 1944 | Tommy Hitchcock Jr. |
44 | American champion polo player | Near Salisbury, England | P-51Mustang | Crashed while flying for the Air Force during World War II. Hitchcock was unable to pull out of a dive as he conducted tests. | PHOTO |
| Jul 31, 1944 | Antoine de Saint- Exupery |
44 | French writer | Mediterranean off Marseille, France | Lockheed P-38 Lightning | Lost over the Mediterranean during a World War II mission for the U.S. Air Force. Probably due to mechanical failure. 1 killed. | |
| Aug 12, 1944 |
Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. |
29 | Brother of President John F. Kennedy | Blythgurgh, England | Consolidated PB4Y-1 32271 |
Intending to bail out to leave another aircraft to guide a plane via remote control into a German sub pen, the plane blew up before he could exit. | PHOTO |
| Dec 15, 1944 | Glenn Miller |
40 | American band leader and musician | Over the English Channel | UC-64A Noorduyn Norseman 44-70285 |
Disappeared over the English Channel. Most likely accidentally hit by bombs jettisoned by RAF bombers returning from an unsuccessful raid. | PHOTO |
| Jan 2, 1945 | Sir Bertram Ramsey |
62 | British Admiral | Toussus le Noble, France | Lockheed Hudson | Dived into the ground and crashed shortly after taking off. | |
| May 17, 1945 | Robert Hutchins |
20 | "Wheezer" of the Little Rascals | Twelve miles NW of Merced Army Air Field, California | North American AT-6D-NT 42-86536 |
While attemping to land during a training exercise, Hutchins had a midair collision with 42-49068. | |
| Aug 6, 1945 | Maj. Richard Bong |
25 | American WW II Ace | Burbank, California | P-80 jet fighter | Crashed while testing the P-80 jet fighter. Highest scoring ace in American history with 40 victories. | PHOTO |
| Jan 26, 1947 15:30 |
Grace Moore Prince Gustav Adolf Gerda Neumann |
48 41 31 |
American opera singer Swedish crown prince Danish actress |
Copenhagen, Denmark | KLM Douglas C-47 PH-TCR |
Crashed during takeoff. Failure to remove the elevator locking pins during takeoff. All 22 aboard killed. | PHOTO |
| Aug 23, 1947 |
Roy Chadwick | 54 | English aircraft designer | Lake District, England | Avro 688 Tudor II | Avro's chief designer, Chadwick was killed when the Avro Tudor II prototype he was testing crashed on takeoff. Incorrectly installed aileron controls. | |
| Oct 24, 1947 | Jeff Burkett | 26 | Rookie punter for the Chicago Cardinals football team | Bryce Canyon, Utah | United Airlines Flight 608 Douglas DC-6 NC37510 |
A design flaw allowed vented gasoline to be drawn into the heater air intake scoop. The plane exploded and crashed. Burkett stayed behind because of an emergency appendectomy and was returning to his team in Chicago. All 53 aboard killed. | |
| Oct 28, 1947 | Earl Snell | 52 | Governor of Oregon | Near Lakeview, Oregon | Beechcraft Bonanza | Crashed in the Fremont Naional Forest, near Dog Lake, in a private plane. All 4 aboard killed including the state's Attorney General and Senate President. | PHOTO |
| May 13, 1948 | Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish | 28 | Sister of President John Kennedy | Mount Coron, France | Skyways de Havilland Dove 1 G-AJOU |
Crashed in a storm. All 10 aboard killed. | PHOTO |
| Jun 5, 1948 | Glen Edwards | 30 | American test pilot, namesake of Edwars AFB | Near Edwards AFB | Northrope YB-49 | Broke apart in the air near Edwards AFB. All 5 aboard killed. | |
| Jun 17, 1948 01:41 |
Earl Carroll Berryl Wallace |
55 39 |
U.S. theatrical impresario American actress, singer, dancer |
Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania | United Air Lines Flight 624 Douglas DC-6 NC37506 |
Flight 624 crashed after an in-flight fire in the cargo hold. Carbon dioxide extinguishers leaked into the cockpit incapacitating the crew. All 43 aboard killed. | PHOTO |
| Nov 8. 1948 | Czechoslovak national ice hockey team | Sports team | English Channel | Crashed into the English Channel just off of France killing 5 members of the team | |||
| Sep 25, 1948 15:07 |
Joe Lynam |
31 | Pro wrestler | Bend, Oregon | Navy surplus aircraft NC62389 |
The plane struck Horse Ridge, 500 feet from the summit, just after taking off from Bend in rain and fog. | |
| Apr 20, 1949 | Robert Coffey Jr. | 31 | Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. | Albuquerque, New Mexico | P-80 Shooting Star Jet Fighter | Crashed on takeoff while on a cross country proficiency flight. | |
| May 4, 1949 17:04 |
Torino soccer team | Sports team | Superga, Italy | Avio Linee Italiane Fiat G212CP I-ELCE |
The left wing struck a wall while trying to land in rain, low visibility and thunderstorms. All 31 aboard killed. | PHOTO | |
| Oct 1, 1949 21:00 |
Buddy Clark |
38 | American singer | Los Angeles, California | Twin engine Cessna T-50 |
The aircraft ran out of gas and clipped trees and power lines as it crash landed onto Beverly Boulevard. Clark was the only one of 5 aboard killed when he was thrown from the plane. | PHOTO |
| Oct 28, 1949 |
Marcel Cerdan Ginette Neveu |
33 30 |
French boxing champion French classical violinist |
San Miguel Island, Azores | Air France Lockheed Constellation F-BAZN sn 2546 |
Flew into a mountain after two failed attempts at landing at the Azores. Cerdan, former middleweight champion, was en route to fight Jake LaMotta in New York. All 48 aboard killed. Ironically, Jake LaMotta's son was killed in the Swissair crash in 1998. | PHOTO |
| Nov 1, 1949 | George Bates Michael Kennedy Helen Hokinson |
58 52 46 |
Massachusetts U.S. Rep. New York U.S. Rep. American cartoonist for the New Yorker |
Arlington, Virginia | Eastern Air Lines Flight 537 Douglas C-54B N555LD |
Midair collision with a U.S. Air Force P-38 fighter. Fighter pilot survived, tried for causing accident and cleared. All 56 aboard killed. |