Laurence Owen - Death

Death

As national champion, Laurence Owen was selected as a member of the U.S. Figure Skating Team to compete in the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships, to be held in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The championships were scheduled to begin on February 22, 1961. Just before 7:30 pm EST, on Valentine's Day 1961, Laurence, her mother Maribel Vinson-Owen, her sister Maribel and partner Dudley Richards, along with 16 of the team's friends, family and coaches, boarded Sabena Flight 548 at Idlewild Airport in New York. On February 15, 1961, about 10:00 am Brussels Time, the Boeing 707 approached Zaventem Airport. The aircraft was on a long approach to runway 20 when, near the runway threshold and at a height of 900 feet, power was increased and the landing gear retracted. The airplane attempted to circle and land on another runway, but never made it back to the airport. The plane made three 360 degrees turns to the left. During these turns, the bank angle increased more and more until the aircraft had climbed to 1500 feet and was in a near vertical bank. The 707 then leveled wings, abruptly pitched up, lost speed and started to spiral rapidly nose down towards the ground. It crashed and caught fire in a marshy area adjacent to a farm field less than two miles from the airport (50°56′1.22″N 4°32′9.68″E / 50.9336722°N 4.5360222°E / 50.9336722; 4.5360222) at 10:04 a.m. Brussels Time. All 72 people on board, as well as a farmer on the ground, were killed. Rescue workers discovered a singed copy of the Sports Illustrated magazine, featuring Laurence with her signature pixie cut and a bright red skating dress on the cover, amid the twisted metal and smoldering rubble of the wreckage. Laurence Owen was just 16 years old.

The World Championships that year were canceled out of respect for the United States team.

A memorial service was held on February 26, and Laurence was interred that day beside her mother and sister in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.