Tragedy and heroism in the skies

Osmond Mather of Connecticut climbed up into the black and orange Monocoupe aircraft he was eager to show off.

The small, light-cabin two-seater had been designed only a year earlier, and the company Mather worked for was hoping to sell one to the Providence Airport.

A husband and father as well as a veteran of World War I, 31-year-old Mather was at Pothier Field in Warwick that day, July 26, 1928, to show his friend Clifton “Tommy” Thompson what the machine could do.

Thompson, 36, had also served in World War I and was known as a fearless flyer. His wife, Adelaide, had accompanied him to the field that day to watch the stunts, which over a hundred people had gathered to see.

Mather and Thompson flew over the field several times, with Mather piloting. At an altitude of nearly 100 feet, Mather made a sharp turn to circle back when the plane’s tail-end suddenly jutted upwards and the machine plummeted toward the ground. The impact shoved the engine back into the cabin, shattering the gas tank. As the shocked crowd stood watching, the plane burst into flames.

Thompson’s wife became hysterical. Screaming his name, she ran toward the blaze and had to be restrained by those around her. Several men in the crowd hurried toward the burning wreckage with the intention of attempting to save the two men inside. But the heat was too intense to make any such attempt.

One man, however, gave no thought to that. Sgt. John “Jack” Ashcraft Jr. was a 31-year-old pilot and mechanic who had served in the Motor Transport Division during World War I. Ashcraft dove into the flames and tried to open the door of the cabin. It was of no use, however. He was later taken to the hospital with severely burned arms.

After his stint in the military, Ashcraft had become a stunt flyer with the Gates Flying Circus. On June 27, 1929, less than a year after he had so heroically tried to save Mather and Thompson, he was co-piloting the plane “The Answer” with famed aviator Viola Gentry when a sad twist of fate befell him.

Thirty-five-year-old Gentry had learned to fly a plane in 1924, making her the first woman in North Carolina to do so. During the winter of 1928, she had set the first non-fueling endurance record for women. The following year, that record was broken by aviator Bobbi Trout.

Eager to break Trout’s record, Gentry paired up with Ashcraft and took to the skies later that summer. The following day, June 28, the pair noticed that fuel was getting low and a heavy fog was setting in. As they approached New York, Ashcraft realized they would have to make an emergency landing at Roosevelt Field. As he attempted to set the plane down, it side-swiped a tree and plummeted, nose-down, to the ground.

Gentry fractured her skull and was rushed to the hospital, where she spent weeks recovering from serious injuries.

Ashcraft was killed. His gravestone is carved with the words, “Brief, brave and glorious was his young career.”

Kelly Sullivan is a Rhode Island columnist, lecturer and author.