What Happened on This Day in History?
In 1919, the dirigible Wingfoot Air Express caught fire mid-flight over downtown Chicago and crashed directly into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building, sending a flaming engine crashing through the glass skylight roof into a crowded banking hall below. Twelve people were killed, most of them bank employees who never saw it coming.
Why It's Strange
Of all the places a burning blimp could possibly crash in a major city, it chose to plunge through the ceiling of a busy bank - making it one of the most surreal and improbable disaster scenes in aviation history.
