Cory Fulton Lidle (March 22, 1972 – October 11, 2006) was an American professional baseball player. A right-handed pitcher, Lidle played in Major League Baseball with the New York Mets, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees from 1997 to 2006. Lidle was killed when the small aircraft he owned crashed into a residential building in New York City.
Francis Richard Scobee (May 19, 1939 – January 28, 1986) was an American pilot, engineer, and astronaut. He was killed while commanding the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986, which suffered catastrophic booster failure during launch of the STS-51-L mission.Scobee held a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering, graduating from the University of Arizona in 1965. He was a reciprocating engine mechanic for the United States Air Force and served as a combat aviator in the Vietnam War.
Selected for NASA Astronaut Corps in January 1978, Scobee completed his training in August 1979. While awaiting his first orbital spaceflight mission, Scobee served as an instructor pilot for the Shuttle's 747 carrier aircraft. In April 1984, he piloted Challenger mission STS-41-C, which successfully deployed one satellite and repaired another.
Eddie Johnson (February 10, 1919 – June 30, 1974) was an American race car driver.
Born in Richmond, Virginia, Johnson grew up in Los Angeles, where he was a high school acquaintance of 1950 Indianapolis 500 winner Johnnie Parsons. He drove in the AAA and USAC Championship Car series, racing in the 1950–1952 and 1955–1966 seasons with 33 starts, including the Indianapolis 500 races in all of those years but the first two. He finished in the top ten 9 times, with his best finish in 3rd position, in 1959 at Trenton. Late in his career, Johnson frequently came to Indianapolis without an assigned car only to be signed on to a team which needed a driver to put a struggling car in the race. In 1965, Johnson became the last person on the track in the Indianapolis 500 mile race with a naturally aspirated Offenhauser in a roadster. Johnson was flagged to finish in 10th place.
Johnson died in a plane crash near Cleveland, Ohio. The National Transportation Safety Board ruled the probable cause was pilot error, specifically attempting to fly visually in unsuitable weather and structurally overloading the airplane.
Richard Overton Hunziker (6 July 1916 – 29 May 1971) was a decorated World War II fighter pilot and later United States Air Force major general. He played a significant role in the Cold War and commanded operations at Project Crested Ice.
William Wallace Reid Jr. (June 18, 1917 – February 28, 1990) was an American actor. The son of actors Dorothy Davenport and Wallace Reid Sr., he appeared in 10 films from 1920 to 1943, later becoming an architect. Reid was born in Los Angeles, California in 1917. At age 72, he died in nearby Santa Monica Bay when his home-built Rutan Long-EZ airplane crashed into the water during heavy fog.
Robert Charles Francis (February 26, 1930 – July 31, 1955) was an American actor. He appeared in only four Hollywood films, all with military themes, before he was killed at age 25 in the crash of a small airplane he was piloting.
James Julien "Pug" Southerland II (October 28, 1911 – October 12, 1949) was a United States Navy fighter pilot during World War II. He was an ace, having been credited with five victories (some accounts say seven), flying Grumman F4F Wildcats. He was awarded the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross twice, and the Purple Heart.
Lonnie R. Moore (13 July 1920 – 10 January 1956) was a United States military aviator who flew 54 combat missions in Martin B-26 Marauders during World War II, and whom became a double jet ace during the Korean War, downing ten MiG-15s and one probable while flying North American F-86 Sabres. He was killed in the crash of a new fighter type at Eglin AFB, Florida, at age 35.
Fletcher Roseberry Jones (January 22, 1931 – November 7, 1972) was an American businessman, computer pioneer and thoroughbred racehorse owner.
Captain Emilio Carranza Rodríguez (December 9, 1905 – July 12, 1928), was a noted Mexican aviator and national hero, nicknamed the "Lindbergh of Mexico". He was killed on the return part of a historic goodwill flight from Mexico City to the United States. He crashed in New Jersey shortly after take-off from New York.