1917 Plane Crash - James Moore farm
|
|
In 1917 airplanes were still considered something of an oddity. Very few people had seen one close up, let alone flying, so when a plane landed on the James Moore farm in Georgetown it did not take long for a crowd to gather. No one wanted to pass up an opportunity for a closer look at one of those flying machines.
It is at this point that all sorts of rumours start about the tragedy. These are the events that are agreed upon. At around 4 o'clock on the afternoon of November
13, 1917, Cadet Skidmore was flying by when he noticed he was running low on fuel. He alighted in the field east of the bush on the James Moore farm. (Now the
present Moore Park subdivision.) While he was getting the gasoline a crowd gathered around the plane. After the plane was refueled the crowd moved back and Cadet Skidmore attempted to take off. For some reason the plane was turned around and ran into the crowd. Several persons received minor injuries and Mrs. Isabelle Cleave was killed instantly. The plane ended up along the stump fence.
Miss Isabelle Moore in later years claimed that as the plane crossed the field one of its wheels caught in a furrow. This swung the aircraft around so that it was rushing down a slope towards the stump fence. Mrs Cleave, unfortunately, had been watching events from this angle and could not escape. The site of the tragedy has long since
disappeared. The James Moore farm was sold in the mid-1960s for the development of the Moore Park subdivision. Houses now cover what once were plowed fields.
It is at this point that all sorts of rumours start about the tragedy. These are the events that are agreed upon. At around 4 o'clock on the afternoon of November
13, 1917, Cadet Skidmore was flying by when he noticed he was running low on fuel. He alighted in the field east of the bush on the James Moore farm. (Now the
present Moore Park subdivision.) While he was getting the gasoline a crowd gathered around the plane. After the plane was refueled the crowd moved back and Cadet Skidmore attempted to take off. For some reason the plane was turned around and ran into the crowd. Several persons received minor injuries and Mrs. Isabelle Cleave was killed instantly. The plane ended up along the stump fence.
Miss Isabelle Moore in later years claimed that as the plane crossed the field one of its wheels caught in a furrow. This swung the aircraft around so that it was rushing down a slope towards the stump fence. Mrs Cleave, unfortunately, had been watching events from this angle and could not escape. The site of the tragedy has long since
disappeared. The James Moore farm was sold in the mid-1960s for the development of the Moore Park subdivision. Houses now cover what once were plowed fields.