Kansas City, MO – On March 31, 1931, Legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne and seven other men were killed in a plane crash in central Kansas.
The plane took a hard nose-dive into the muddy ground in the Flint Hills about 60 miles northeast of Wichita near Bazaar, Kansas.
Coach Rockne was 43 years old. At the time, Rockne was the most famous person to ever perish in an airplane crash, and his death in Kansas made worldwide news.
The scheduled flight from Kansas City to Los Angeles, had a stop-over in Wichita for mail delivery. There was a strong cold front coming through the area; it was a rainy day with extremely low-hanging clouds, fog, and ice.
One investigation found the wooden wing became moist over time, causing the glue connecting the wing to the body to weaken, allowing the wing to separate.
The crash brought about significant changes in airplane safety, the airplane industry, and was of cultural significance, because of the death of Rockne and the public perception of the safety of aircraft.