On a fall night in 1941, an American Airlines plane came down in a farm field west of St. Thomas. All 20 people on board died. It was the worst air disaster Canada had seen up to then. Eighty-five years later, a local play is bringing the story back to Elgin County.
What happened that night
The plane was a DC-3 airliner named the Flagship Erie. On October 30th, 1941, it was flying from Buffalo to Detroit as part of a New York to Chicago trip. At about 10 p.m., it crashed on Thompson and Viola Howe’s farm at Lawrence Station, a hamlet in Southwold Township about 25 kilometres west of St. Thomas.
There were 17 passengers and three crew members aboard. People rushed toward the wreck to see if anyone could be saved, and airmen and firefighters from a nearby air force station arrived quickly. But the force of the crash and the spilled fuel made a wall of heat and flame, and no rescue was possible. In the days after, the Howe family’s farmhouse became a base for crash investigators and reporters.
A mystery never solved
Several government inquiries never found what brought the plane down. A bird strike, an autopilot problem and lightning were all considered. The impact and the fire destroyed nearly all of the evidence, years before planes carried flight recorders. The inquiries did point to two needs: stronger cockpit windows against bird strikes, and a device that could record what was happening on a plane.
It was also American Airlines’ first deadly crash of a DC-3. With Canada deep in the Second World War, the crash soon faded from most people’s memory.
Remembered again
In September 2018, a plaque was unveiled at Lawrence Station. Local residents raised the money for it, and it honours the 17 passengers and three crew members who died.
In April 2023, playwright Len Cuthbert of Mount Brydges premiered his play about the crash, Lawrence Station, at the Southwold Keystone Complex in Shedden, with more shows in Strathroy and London. The play follows the lives changed by the crash, from the people on board to the families they left behind, and it pays tribute to the local people who responded that night.
The 85th anniversary shows
Fridge Door Live Theatre Company is staging the play again this fall, now called Lawrence Station: The Flagship Erie’s Final Flight. This version adds music by Cuthbert’s son, Fynn Cuthbert. The company is putting the show on in collaboration with the Southwold Township History Committee, and the show runs about 90 minutes.
- Shedden: Southwold Keystone Complex, 35921 Talbot Line. Thursday, October 29th, and Friday, October 30th, at 2pm and 7pm. The Friday shows fall on the 85th anniversary of the crash.
- Strathroy: Gemini Sportsplex, 667 Adair Boulevard. Saturday, October 31st, at 2pm, and Sunday, November 1st, at 2pm and 7pm.
Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. You can buy them online through the Fridge Door Live Theatre Company’s show page. Online sales close at midnight the night before each show day. As of October 7th, all seven shows still had tickets for sale online.
Sources: Fridge Door Live Theatre Company: Lawrence Station · CBC News: The crash of the Flagship Erie (2018) · Canadian Aviation Historical Society: 85th anniversary staging
By Anthony Zruna · About the LocVox Newsroom
