Last edit Dec 4, 2023 by Wayne Blanchard for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

— 5 Aviation Safety Network. USAAF Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender crash, 27 May 1945.

— 5 Press Gazette, Hillsboro, OH. “Hospital Releases…Survivor…Plane-Auto Crash.” 6-26-‘45

— 5 Wikipedia. “Curtiss-Wright XP-44 Ascender.” 12-3-2023 edit. Accessed 12-4-2023.

–3-5 Wikipedia. “List of Airshow Accidents and Incidents.” 11-3-2011 modification.

Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Network, Database, 1945, p. 88 (XP-55 crash):

“Date: Sunday 27 May 1945

“Type: Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender

“Owner/operator: United States Army Air Forces (USAAF)

“Registration: 42-78847

….

“Fatalities: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1

“Other fatalities: 4

….

“Location: Dayton-Wright Field, OH – USA

“Phase: Maneuvering (airshow…)

“Nature: Demo/Airshow/Display

….

“Narrative: Crashed during an air show.”

Wikipedia. “Curtiss-Wright XP-44 Ascender.” 12-3-2023 edit:

“The third prototype XP-55 (s/n 42-78847) was lost on 27 May 1945[1] during the closing day of the Seventh War Bond Air Show at the Army Air Forces Fair at Wright Field in Dayton Ohio.[2] After a low pass in formation with a Lockheed P-38 Lightning and a North American P-51 Mustang[3] on each wing, its pilot, William C. Glasgow, attempted a slow roll but lost altitude and crashed, sending flaming debris into occupied civilian ground vehicles on a highway near the airfield. The crash killed Glasgow and four civilians on the ground.”

June 26, Press Gazette, Hillsboro, OH: “Eight weeks old Nina Lee Roehm has arrived at the home of her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. V. L. Roehm, of near Leesburg. Lone survivor of a plane-automobile crash at Wright Field, Dayton, May 27 during an Army Air Force show at the field, the infant was released last week from the Patterson Field AAF regional station hospital, where she had become a favorite of the entire hospital staff. Nina Lee sustained burns about the hands and right leg and a bruise and slight burns about the head in the crash which occurred when an airplane taking part in the show crashed into the car in which she and her family and a friend were riding along a highway.

“The baby’s 21 year old mother, Mrs. Wesley Roehm, Leesburg, died Friday, June 15, at the Patterson Field hospital, while her father and five year old sister, Donna Irene, died shortly after the accident. Miss Kathleen Eyre, a Leesburg neighbor of the Roehms, succumbed the next day. Capt. William C. Glasgow, Niagara Falls, N. Y., pilot of the plane, died in the crash which set fire to the automobile.” (Press Gazette, Hillsboro, OH. “Hospital Releases Infant Survivor of Plane-Auto Crash.” 6-26-1945, p. 1.)

Wikipedia: “The third prototype Curtiss XP-55 Ascender, 42-78847, crashed during an exhibition, killing the pilot William C. Glasgow and two to four civilians (sources differ) on the ground. The pilot attempted a slow roll after a low pass in formation with a P-38 and a P-51 on each wing, but lost altitude and crashed, sending flaming debris into occupied civilian vehicles on a highway near the airfield.” (Wikipedia. “List of Airshow Accidents and Incidents.” 11-3-2011 modification.)

Sources

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Network, Database, 1945, p. 88. USAAF Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender crash, Dayton-Wright Field, OH, 27 May 1945. Accessed 12-4-2023 at: https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/48448

Press-Gazette, Hillsboro, OH. “Hospital Releases Infant Survivor of Plane-Auto Crash.” 6-26-1945, 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=21819118

Wikipedia. “Curtiss-Wright XP-44 Ascender.” 12-3-2023 edit. Accessed 12-4-2023 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss-Wright_XP-55_Ascender

Wikipedia. “List of Airshow Accidents and Incidents.” 11-3-2011 modification. Accessed 11-6-2011 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airshow_accidents_and_incidents

[1] Cites: “XP-55 – War Thunder Wiki.” At wiki.warthunder.com.

[2] Cites: Gerald H. Balzer. American Secret Pusher Fighters of World War II: XP-54, XP-55, and XP-56. North Branch, MN: Specialty Press, 2008.

[3] Cites: “World of Warbirds: Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender on Apple Podcasts.” Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 12-02-2023.

1945 — May 27, USAAF XP-55 Ascender crash debris hits car, air show, Wright Field, Dayton OH–5