Morbid Fact Du Jour For March 15, 2016

Today’s Reputation-Destroying Yet Truly Morbid Fact!

At the dawn of regular passenger travel in the 1930s, almost all air traffic was carried by primitive tri-motor planes made by Fokker, Ford, Douglas or Boeing, carrying small numbers of passengers at maximum speeds of around 120 mph. One notable early disaster happened on March 31, 1932, when a TWA Fokker tri-motor broke up in mid-air and plummeted to the ground at the tiny town of Bazaar in Kansas. The two pilots and six passengers were killed instantly, and the subsequent investigation revealed that the wooden spar of the wing had rotted. At a time when accidents were fairly frequent, this one was historic: among the passengers was Knut Rockne, renowned coach of the all-conquering Notre Dame American football team. The country went into mourning, and the  reputation of the tri-motors was destroyed overnight.

Culled from: Black Box: Inside the World’s Worst Aircrashes

Here’s the type of Fokker that crashed (an F.10):

Here’s the wreckage shortly after the crash:

Here’s a view of the crash from another plane that was about to crash (probably):

Let’s all pose for a photo on the wing that fell off!

Knut Rockne.

And there’s a memorial at the spot now, Morbid Sightseers!

Facebook Page Du Jour!

I’d like to take a moment to recommend another excellent Facebook page: Victorian Post-Mortem Photography.  Look at the goodies you can see here!

This Weird Hydrocephalic Kid

This Tragic Murder Scene

This Sleeping Beauty

You just never know what you’ll stumble upon here… but chances are it will be sad.