his landing gear struck a gully prior to the crash. It was Manchester's first fatality. On August 5, 1938, at about 6:15 pm, student pilot Avalon Robert Lilly Jr. was injured when a WACO biplane, powered by a Wright Whirlwind motor, attempted a loop off the ground, but fell and crashed from the Manchester Airport Administration Building. The plane belonged to Donald Lewis, who was at the controls and suffered major injuries. Lilly later died on August 12, 1938. On December 10, 1942, a fighter plane connected to Manchester Airport (Grenier Field) crashed in Mont Vernon around noon; the unidentified pilot was uninjured. On April 24, 1944, at 9:00 am, a four-motored Army B-24 Liberator bomber (#42-5111) took off from Manchester Airport and crashed into a densely wooded area on Fort Mountain near Epsom, killing all ten crew on board. On November 29, 1944, at 9:30 am, another Army B-24L (#44-49669) crashed nose-first in Pawtuckaway State Forest in Nottingham, northeast of Manchester, killing all nine crew. It had taken off from Manchester and was headed to Gander, Newfoundland, Canada. On August 5, 1948, at 5:00 pm, an AT-11 training plane and an A-26 attack bomber collided over Manchester airport, killing four. On June 7, 1949, at 8:43 pm, 1st Lt. William A. Primm of the 97th Fighter Squadron died during a routine training flight when he attempted an emergency landing and crashed his F-51 fighter at the end of Runway 24. Post-Jet Age On April 22, 1971, at 5:00 pm, an 18-year-old single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza, registered to New England Aviation Corp., crashed during takeoff, killing four people (one crew, three passengers). On July 31, 1973, Delta Air Lines Flight 723 from Burlington, Vermont to Boston was diverted to Manchester to pick up passengers stranded by a flight cancellation. After leaving Manchester it continued to Boston, but during landing there the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 hit a sea wall at the end of Runway 4, killing 83 passengers and six crew. On October 3, 1979, a small private plane carrying Agnetha Fältskog of the Swedish pop band ABBA was traveling on one of the last legs of their 1979 North American tour (New York City to Boston). The plane flew through one of the worst severe storms in recent Connecticut history. It is speculated that the plane may have encountered a tornado during this event. It was able to make a diversion