FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

American Airlines Flight 2207

28 Dec 1946 · Near Michigan City, Indiana, United States

Douglas C-50A · Unexplained fuel starvation, CFIT

From Buffalo, New York to Chicago, Illinois

Report a problem

Event

Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
Event fatalities
2 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
21
Survivors
19
InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
19
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Airline

Douglas C-50A

Aircraft type
Douglas C-50
Category
Airplane · from aircraft type
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
NC15577
Onboard fatalities
2
Route
From Buffalo, New YorkTo Chicago, Illinois

Approximate · Estimated position: Michigan City, Indiana, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.

From the Wikipedia article

The crash of American Airlines Flight 2207 was an accident involving a Douglas C-50A of the US airline American Airlines near Michigan City, Indiana, United States, on December 28, 1946, killing both pilots while the other crew member and 18 passengers survived with various injuries.

Accident

Having originated in Buffalo, New York, United States, Flight 2207 took off from an undefined airport in Detroit, Michigan, United States on a scheduled flight to Chicago, Illinois, United States carrying 3 crew and 18 passengers, including Captain Frank Mapes Ham Jr. and First Officer Harman Edwin Ring on December 28, 1946, at 07:48, which was six minutes behind the scheduled takeoff time. At 08:40, Chicago ATC instructed the flight to climb to an altitude of 4000 ft, which it was ordered to maintain until the flight was 10 minutes past South Bend, Indiana.

However at 09:18 the pilots reported to Air traffic control that both engines had shut down and the aircraft had descended to an altitude of 900 ft. Air traffic control at Chicago suggested that the flight should return to land at South Bend, but the pilots opted to try an emergency landing at Michigan City, Indiana instead. Unfortunately the aircraft had lost too much altitude to safely make it to the runway and crashed near Michigan City at 09:19. Both pilots were killed in the crash while the remaining crew member as well as all 18 passengers survived the crash with various injuries.

Text from the Wikipedia article “American Airlines Flight 2207” (revision 1339307512, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article

Sources

Wikipedia article: American Airlines Flight 2207
Article
American Airlines Flight 2207
Revision
1339307512 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q115805193
Licence
Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
Record
Wikipedia article "American Airlines Flight 2207" (page 72298646, revision 1339307512)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata coordinates)
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
flight number in the article title
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.