Daily Illini, 24 May 1945
Farmer City Man Killed in Plane Crash
Cub Hits High Tension Wire at Airport
Marshall Curtis Dies in Flaming Trainer Plane During Solo Landing Practice
Marshall Curtis, assistant postmaster at Farmer City, was instantly killed at 6:30 p.m. yesterday when the Piper J-3 Cub in which he was soloing crashed into a power cable about 40 feet above the ground at the south end of the Champaign airport.
Mr. Curtis, who had been flying for about a year, was practicing take-offs and landings. Earl Taynor, manager of the airport, stated that Mr. Curtis had made two landings and was coming in on his third when the accident occurred. He evidently realized that he was too low because he cut in his engine several times in an unsuccessful attempt to gain sufficient speed to clear the wires.
The plane struck the cable, broke through, and burst into flames. Only a bare, charred, metal skeleton remained of the overturned plane which lay in a crumpled mass just off the edge of U. S. highway 150 outside Champaign.
State troopers set up barriers around the wreck and awaited the arrival of C. A. Hamilton, civil aeronautics inspector, who was expected from Springfield last night to make official examination determining the cause.
The body is at present at the Mittendorf funeral home pending coroner's inquest today.
Mr. Curtis was born Jan. 20, 1908, near Farmer City. He is survived by his wife, Martha Fogal Curtis and two children as well as seven brothers and three sisters.
OBIT: MidwestMom
Daily Illini, 24 May 1945
Farmer City Man Killed in Plane Crash
Cub Hits High Tension Wire at Airport
Marshall Curtis Dies in Flaming Trainer Plane During Solo Landing Practice
Marshall Curtis, assistant postmaster at Farmer City, was instantly killed at 6:30 p.m. yesterday when the Piper J-3 Cub in which he was soloing crashed into a power cable about 40 feet above the ground at the south end of the Champaign airport.
Mr. Curtis, who had been flying for about a year, was practicing take-offs and landings. Earl Taynor, manager of the airport, stated that Mr. Curtis had made two landings and was coming in on his third when the accident occurred. He evidently realized that he was too low because he cut in his engine several times in an unsuccessful attempt to gain sufficient speed to clear the wires.
The plane struck the cable, broke through, and burst into flames. Only a bare, charred, metal skeleton remained of the overturned plane which lay in a crumpled mass just off the edge of U. S. highway 150 outside Champaign.
State troopers set up barriers around the wreck and awaited the arrival of C. A. Hamilton, civil aeronautics inspector, who was expected from Springfield last night to make official examination determining the cause.
The body is at present at the Mittendorf funeral home pending coroner's inquest today.
Mr. Curtis was born Jan. 20, 1908, near Farmer City. He is survived by his wife, Martha Fogal Curtis and two children as well as seven brothers and three sisters.
OBIT: MidwestMom
Family Members
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Ray Ellsworth Curtis
1891–1908
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William Thompson Curtis
1893–1979
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Ida B. Curtis Bennett
1895–1990
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Clyde Earl Curtis
1897–1983
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Mabel Curtis Kirkpatrick Cook
1900–1994
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Viola May Curtis Howe
1902–1964
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Roger James Curtis
1904–1991
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Lewis Wesley Curtis
1908–1980
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John Wilbur Curtis
1911–1975
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Carl Jonathan Curtis
1912–2002
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CDR Richard Eugene Curtis
1918–2013
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