List of Air Show Accidents and Incidents - 1938

1938

• July 24 – (Campo de Marte, Santa Ana, Usaquén, Colombia) – A pilot performing an aerobatic display crashed an F11C Goshawk into a crowd attending a military review. Sources differ on the number killed and injured; up to 75 died and 100 or more were injured. According to Time magazine, the pilot, Flight Lt. Cesar Abadia of the Colombian Air Force, disregarded standing orders not to fly below 500 feet and attempted to dive through a narrow gap between two grandstands. The pilot misjudged his approach and a wingtip hit the Diplomatic stand; the plane then smashed against the Presidential stand and exploded, raining flaming debris down on spectators located between the two grandstands.