This plane is like the one William flew.

(Photo courtesy of the Vintage Aircraft Association website)

After the Alliance Aircraft Corp. was formed in Ohio in 1928, the company designed the A-1 Argo, a two-seater open-cockpit biplane for private pilots. Only 20 of the planes were completed before the company fell into bankruptcy due to the stock market crash.

Measuring 20 feet and two inches in length, with a wingspan of 28 feet and eight inches, the plane weighed 1,615 pounds. It could reach a maximum speed of 125 miles per hour and could maintain a rate of climb at 1,050 feet per minute.

The A-1 Argo was the first plane capable of performing an outside loop, a maneuver so dangerous it was referred to as the “suicide stunt.”   

Lieutenant William James Leonard of Providence was a stunt flier. Born in Berkshire, Mass. in 1900, he was the son of William and Mary Leonard. His father was a stationary engineer.

William had worked as a machinist at Mt. Hope Finishing Company in Bristol. , Mass. and was a former Army and airmail pilot. He’d gone on to become chief test pilot for the Alliance Aircraft Corp. and a stunt flier who performed all over the country.

On Sept. 15, 1929, What Cheer Airport in Pawtucket was the site of a performance by William, which included outside loops as he was one of the few American fliers willing and able to do them.

A few weeks later, he was back in Rhode Island with his A-1 Argo completing daredevil stunts for the crowd that had assembled. His tricks included climbing upwards in a spin, flying upside down, looping, plunging downward, twisting, twirling and racing across sky at terrific speed then suddenly bolting upward.

On Nov. 11, he was scheduled to do another “death defying” show. The first-ever air meet was being held in Marlboro, Mass. on that day and it was announced that William would perform two inverted loops, which required his plane reaching an incredible speed.

That day he and another pilot, Lieutenant George Watkins, performed together in their planes in front of about 7,000 people who had gathered at the airport and along the highway. The crowd watched the two planes swerve close together then separate before William climbed to about 1,500 feet and went into a spiral nosedive. They assumed it was part of the show.

As the Argo descended to about 100 feet, it became clear that William was desperately struggling to right the plane. Thousands of eyes stared helplessly as the plane plummeted two feet into the soft ground below. Unconscious, William was placed in an ambulance where he died on the way to Marlboro Hospital from a fracture of the vertical vertebrae and other injuries associated with the accident.

He left a 36-year-old widow, Bertha (Jette) and a large host of friends. His funeral services were held on Nov. 14 at St. Michael’s Church and he was buried at St. Ann’s Cemetery in Cranston. At 7:00 that morning, numerous aviators ascended from Springfield Airport, their planes having been packed with flowers. Just before burial, the pilots lowered the planes above the cemetery and, as they flew over, dropped the flowers into the grave of their comrade.

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