On Monday, July 21, 1919, the Wingfoot Air Express (owned by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company) crashed into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago, with the loss of 13 lives. This was the worst airship disaster in the US until the Zeppelin airship, Hindenburg, crashed in 1937. Of the 13 who died, one was a crew member, two were passengers, while the remaining 10 they were bank employees in the building below.

The Wingfoot Air Express was carrying passengers from Grant Park to the White City Amusement Park when, at an altitude of approximately 1,200 feet, the aircraft caught fire over the Chicago Loop. Once the crew realized the aircraft was lost, the pilot and crew chief parachuted to safety along with a third person who broke both legs and later died in hospital.

The Illinois Trust & Savings Bank building at the corner of LaSalle Street and Jackson Boulevard housed 150 employees who were closing after the business day (the fire was reported to have started at 4:55 p.m.) in the main hall of the bank. The main room was lit by a large skylight and the wreckage of the Wingfoot Air Express struck the bank’s skylight directly, causing flaming debris to fall into the room below. In addition to the ten employees who died, 27 staff members were also injured.

After the accident, the Chicago City Council placed a ban on hydrogen-filled blimps from flying over populated areas of the city. Airships’ home base, Grant Park Airstrip, was also closed shortly after the accident.

Published in honor of those who lost their lives while working at the bank, in a catastrophe that left all officers and employees on strike.

THE GREAT TRAGEDY

A mass of flaming debris spewed out of the clear sky and crashed through the large skylight of this bank, killing and injuring the Illinois Trust family. A large airship flying over the loop caught fire at a thousand feet and hurtled like a flaming comet toward Earth. The finger of fate had selected the skylight of this building among the hundreds of surrounding flat roofs, on which the airship would crash.

This great tragedy resulted in the death of ten people at the bank and the injury of twenty-seven others, leaving an unforgettable shadow over the entire institution. Clerks and officers were busy closing up business for the day on July 21. It had been a great day. Monday almost invariably brings more business than other days of the week. Many of the employees were already on their way home. Those still at work were putting the finishing touches on the day’s work and would have gone home soon enough.

Suddenly, as if the whole roof were collapsing, there was a loud crash, and through the skylight the huge ferocious airship with its twisted iron and heavy mechanism descended, passed the balcony, and descended to the first floor over the heads of the employees who were working under the large skylight.

from The Columns of the Illinois Trust & Savings Bank, Chicago [special memorial issue]: 3, July 1919,