1938 Santa Ana air show disaster

The 1938 Santa Ana air show disaster occurred on 24 July 1938 at a military review on the Campo de Marte in the Santa Ana district of Bogota, Colombia. During the review, a Curtiss Hawk II biplane of the Colombian Air Force piloted by Lieutenant César Abadia performed a stunt before crashing into a grandstand and then into the crowd.

1938 Santa Ana air show disaster

A similar Hawk II of the Colombian Air Force
Accident
Date	24 July 1938 (1938-07-24)
Summary	Pilot error
Site	Campo de Marte, Bogota, Colombia 04°41′07″N 074°02′15″W
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Curtiss Hawk II
Operator	Colombian Air Force
Crew	1
Fatalities	53 (including 52 on ground)[1]
Injuries	100+ (on ground)

The pilot attempted to fly between the presidential stand and the stand for diplomats when he miscalculated the distance and the aircraft's wing-tip struck the diplomatic stand. The Hawk II destroyed part of the roof of the presidential stand and then careened through the crowd bursting into flames before it came to a stop upside down.^[2] Over fifty people, including civilians and soldiers were killed, and over a hundred injured.^[3] Among those in the presidential stand but uninjured were the outgoing Colombian President Alfonso López Pumarejo and his successor Eduardo Santos.^[4] Among the wounded was Misael Pastrana Borrero, a future president of Colombia.

See also

• Lists of air show accidents and incidents
• Sknyliv air show disaster – another air show disaster caused by a single military aircraft and resulting in over 50 fatalities