Airplanes fly and crash in 1920

October 1920 brought two unusual aviation incidents to North Dakota’s rural areas, both covered by local newspapers. In one case, a man named Hamilton had been flying around Jamestown for a week before a crash in a stubble field. Two boys from the Eckelson area watched the plane come down, ran to the burning aircraft, and found the pilot unconscious. They alerted help; Mrs. Martin Conlin and Mrs. Maclain pulled the pilot from the wreck “just in time,” according to The Jamestown Alert. The aircraft was likely a Curtiss JN-4/Jenny, with coverage speculating a fuel-tank explosion or propeller impact. Injuries were reported as minor, with differing details on where he was taken. Separately, a game warden witnessed a pilot shooting geese from an airplane near Wimbledon, leading to a citation, a guilty plea, and a $20 fine.