Today in Wheeling History: March 31—Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne, Wheeling produce merchant C.A. Robrecht, and six others perish when a Fokker F-10 trimotor airplane—possibly built at the Fokker plant in nearby Glen Dale—crashes in Kansas (1931).
On the morning of March 31, 1931, a Transcontinental & Western Air Fokker F-10 trimotor departed Kansas City bound for Los Angeles. Ninety minutes into the flight, the wooden wing—its laminated spar weakened by moisture infiltrating the glue joints—failed catastrophically over the Flint Hills of Kansas near the village of Bazaar. All eight aboard perished, including legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne and Wheeling wholesale produce merchant Charles A. Robrecht, Sr.
Robrecht was born September 18, 1865, in rural Ohio County, the son of a truck gardener. He built the C.A. Robrecht Company into one of West Virginia's largest wholesale grocers, headquartered at 1910 Main Street. A devout Catholic and member of St. Michael's Parish, he lived at 10 Oak Park. He was flying for the first time in his life, traveling urgently to Amarillo, Texas, where his granddaughter had died of influenza and his daughter lay critically ill. A rosary was found near his body in the Kansas field. Following a funeral Mass at St. Michael's Church, he was interred at Mount Calvary Cemetery. He was 65.
The Fokker Aircraft Corporation plant in Glen Dale, Marshall County, opened in 1928 and employed up to 500 workers from the Wheeling area. The day after the crash, the Wheeling Intelligencer reported the downed plane may have been built at Glen Dale, but plant officials said it was impossible to determine the point of manufacture without the plane number, as F-10s were built at both Glen Dale and Fokker's New Jersey facility. The crash effectively ended wooden-winged commercial aviation, badly damaged the Fokker company's reputation, and accelerated the development of safer all-metal aircraft. The Glen Dale plant closed in October 1931.
To learn more: Archiving Wheeling (https://tinyurl.com/5yds85uw) (https://tinyurl.com/4ppmuhv4) (https://tinyurl.com/at6z4xvj), Kansas Press Association (https://tinyurl.com/ytea3679), Disastrous History (https://tinyurl.com/4ye36h7a), Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/22925zm7), Aviation Safety Network – Accident Description (https://tinyurl.com/pte6ytw5), Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/2p9jsc5v), West Virginia Encyclopedia Online (https://tinyurl.com/3v77kdck), West Virginia GenWeb (https://tinyurl.com/msd93zzw), Moundsville: PBS Film & Magazine (https://tinyurl.com/y6hsyh4m), Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields (https://tinyurl.com/yktb7s63), Wheeling Register (https://tinyurl.com/mu2vu7fn) (https://tinyurl.com/3ejs5mxp), Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/366s5nyn) (https://tinyurl.com/248evka3)
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Kansas Press Association, Wikimedia Commons, Find a Grave, Wheeling Register, Wheeling Intelligencer, West Virginia Encyclopedia Online, West Virginia GenWeb, Moundsville: PBS Film & Magazine
On the morning of March 31, 1931, a Transcontinental & Western Air Fokker F-10 trimotor departed Kansas City bound for Los Angeles. Ninety minutes into the flight, the wooden wing—its laminated spar weakened by moisture infiltrating the glue joints—failed catastrophically over the Flint Hills of Kansas near the village of Bazaar. All eight aboard perished, including legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne and Wheeling wholesale produce merchant Charles A. Robrecht, Sr.
Robrecht was born September 18, 1865, in rural Ohio County, the son of a truck gardener. He built the C.A. Robrecht Company into one of West Virginia's largest wholesale grocers, headquartered at 1910 Main Street. A devout Catholic and member of St. Michael's Parish, he lived at 10 Oak Park. He was flying for the first time in his life, traveling urgently to Amarillo, Texas, where his granddaughter had died of influenza and his daughter lay critically ill. A rosary was found near his body in the Kansas field. Following a funeral Mass at St. Michael's Church, he was interred at Mount Calvary Cemetery. He was 65.
The Fokker Aircraft Corporation plant in Glen Dale, Marshall County, opened in 1928 and employed up to 500 workers from the Wheeling area. The day after the crash, the Wheeling Intelligencer reported the downed plane may have been built at Glen Dale, but plant officials said it was impossible to determine the point of manufacture without the plane number, as F-10s were built at both Glen Dale and Fokker's New Jersey facility. The crash effectively ended wooden-winged commercial aviation, badly damaged the Fokker company's reputation, and accelerated the development of safer all-metal aircraft. The Glen Dale plant closed in October 1931.
To learn more: Archiving Wheeling (https://tinyurl.com/5yds85uw) (https://tinyurl.com/4ppmuhv4) (https://tinyurl.com/at6z4xvj), Kansas Press Association (https://tinyurl.com/ytea3679), Disastrous History (https://tinyurl.com/4ye36h7a), Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/22925zm7), Aviation Safety Network – Accident Description (https://tinyurl.com/pte6ytw5), Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/2p9jsc5v), West Virginia Encyclopedia Online (https://tinyurl.com/3v77kdck), West Virginia GenWeb (https://tinyurl.com/msd93zzw), Moundsville: PBS Film & Magazine (https://tinyurl.com/y6hsyh4m), Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields (https://tinyurl.com/yktb7s63), Wheeling Register (https://tinyurl.com/mu2vu7fn) (https://tinyurl.com/3ejs5mxp), Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/366s5nyn) (https://tinyurl.com/248evka3)
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Kansas Press Association, Wikimedia Commons, Find a Grave, Wheeling Register, Wheeling Intelligencer, West Virginia Encyclopedia Online, West Virginia GenWeb, Moundsville: PBS Film & Magazine
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