Death in the Air Trivia Quiz

Answer: Roald Amundsen

Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) led the first expedition (1903-1906) to cross the Northwest Passage, and in 1911 he was the first to reach the South Pole. In 1926 he reached the North Pole by using an airship. In 1928 his plane disappeared while on a rescue mission for a ship trapped in the Arctic.

Robert Peary (1856-1920) claimed to have reached the North Pole in 1909, although some have claimed his location was wrong. Peary was an early advocate for the use of airplanes. He died at his home at age 63.

Richard Byrd (1888-1957) flew over the North Pole and later led ground expeditions to both poles. He was set to make the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic before a crash delayed his attempt, allowing Charles Lindbergh to gain that honor. He died in his sleep from a heart ailment at age 68.

Robert Falcon Scott (1868-1912) led the second expedition to reach the South Pole. He died on his way back from the pole.

Answer: Dag Hammarskjold

Dag Hammarskjold (1905-1961) was a Swedish diplomat, who served as the second Secretary-General of the U.N from 1953 until his death. His plane crashed while he was traveling to the Congo to negotiate a cease-fire with rebel forces. The official cause of the crash was attributed to pilot error, but others have claimed that the plane was shot down to prevent a truce from taking place.

Trygve Lie (1896-1968) was the first Secretary-General of the U.N. He died from a heart attack in his native Norway.

U Thant (1909-1974), a diplomat from Burma, was the third Secretary-General of the U.N. and is regarded as one of the more successful ones. He was an emergency replacement for Dag Hammarskjold and helped negotiate the Cuban Missile Crisis. He later died from lung cancer.

Kofi Annan (1938-2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who was the seventh Secretary-General of the U.N. He, along with the U.N., was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001.

Answer: South Dakota

Payne Stewart (1957-1999) died in a plane crash while flying from his home in Orlando to Texas to play in a golf tournament. From all accounts, his plane failed to pressurize properly and flew on autopilot, surprisingly northwards towards Canada. During its several hour flight, the plane was followed by Air Force planes in case it endangered larger population areas. It eventually ran out of fuel and crashed in a very sparsely-populated area.

The ongoing television coverage and the surprising flight path towards Canada made this memorable.

Answer: Audie Murphy

Audie Murphy (1925-1971) was born into a family of sharecroppers and became a hero in WWII for his bravery and riflemanship. Later he had a 21 year career in acting, but was beset with problems related to the war. He died as a result of a small plane crash in poor weather conditions near Roanoke, Virginia.

Marlon Brando (1924-2004) was an award-winning actor who died from congestive heart failure and respiratory failure, brought on by diabetes and obesity.

Jimmy Stewart (1908-1997) was another award-winning actor, who had been a bomber pilot during WWII and remained active in the Army and Air Force Reserves, eventually reaching the rank of brigadier general. He died from a pulmonary embolism.

Errol Flynn (1909-1959) was a swashbuckling Australian actor, known for his erotic lifestyle. He died from a heart attack at a relatively young age.

Answer: Philippines

Ramon Magsaysay (1907-1957) was the seventh President of the Philippines. He had been a guerilla leader of Philippine forces during World War II and was the youngest to become president of the country at the time. He was a stalwartly against the expansion of Communism in Asia, negotiated a reparation treaty with Japan over World War II, and successfully ended the threat of the Huk Rebellion. He was extremely popular with the people of the Philippines and helped its postwar recovery with agrarian reforms.

Near the end of his second term of Presidency, he was onboard a plane that crashed while returning to Manila from the island of Cebu.

Answer: Rocky Marciano

Rocky Marciano (1923-1969) retired as the undefeated heavyweight boxing champion in 1955. He defeated Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles, Jersey Joe Walcott, and Archie Moore during his career. He died while on a private plane flight to Des Moines, Iowa, during bad weather.

Ezzard Charles (1931-1975) was a former boxing champion in three different weight classes. Financial problems forced him to continue boxing well beyond his prime. He died from ALS (Lou Gehrig disease), perhaps the result of his long boxing career.

Joe Louis (1914-1981) was one of the greatest boxers in history. Despite facing the racial prejudices of the time, he won the heavyweight boxing championship in 1937. He died from a heart ailment after several strokes and coronary problems.

Lennox Lewis (1965- ) is a three-time world heavyweight champion.

Answer: Tony Lema

Tony Lema (1934-1966), nicknamed "Champagne Tony", won the British Open at St. Andrews, and had placed second at the Masters by the time of his death. He had grown up in a poor family, enlisted at age 17 for military service in Korea, and served as an assistant golf pro. He earned his way onto the PGA tour and won a small tournament his first year. However, his undisciplined lifestyle hindered his development for the next two years.

By the end of 1962 he had turned around his game and would eventually win 12 PGA tournaments. His good looks and personality made him one of the most popular players on the golf tour and earned him some television appearances. While flying to Chicago for an exhibition, his plane ran out of fuel and crashed on a golf course, killing Tony and his wife, one of his friends, and the pilots.

Juan "Chi Chi" Rodriguez (1935-2024) was a successful and charismatic golfer, who was born into a poor family in Puerto Rico and taught himself the game. He died at age 88 in Puerto Rico.

Ben Hogan (1912-1997) was one of the most accomplished golfers ever, winning none major tournaments. He survived a near-fatal head-on collision with a bus in 1948, and returned successfully to his career despite his serious injuries. He died at age 84 in his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas.

Orville Moody (1933-2005) was a shock winner at the U.S. Open in 1969 and never won another PGA tournament until he started playing in senior tournaments. He died from multiple myeloma.

Answer: Aaliya

Aaliya (Houghton) was born in 1979 and died in 2001 from a plane crash in the Bahamas. Her first album sold over 3 million copies when she was just 15 years old. Even at her young age she was influential in the music industry and had just starred in the film "Romeo Must Die". Her plane crashed on takeoff from the Bahamas due to its overloaded weight and extra passengers.

Selena Gomez (1992- ) is an American singer.

Annette Funicello (1942-2013) was an American actress and singer, who first gained fame as one of the original Mouseketeers. She died from the effects of multiple sclerosis,

Dee Dee Sharp (1945- ) is an American R&B singer.

Answer: Mike Todd

Mike Todd (1907-1958) was an American film and theater producer, who was Elizabeth Taylor's third husband. He had started working in the construction industry and entered the film industry when he produced sound-proofed studio stages.

Todd was flying back to New York to receive honors for the film he had produced "Around the World in Eighty Days". The heavily-loaded plane crashed in New Mexico when it experienced icy conditions. Taylor was going to be a passenger on the fatal flight, but Todd wouldn't let her fly after she contracted a cold.

Conrad Nicholson "Nicky" Hilton Jr. (1926-1969) married Elizabeth Taylor in 1950, but the marriage ended eight months later due to his gambling, addiction, and abusive behavior. He died at age 42 from a heart attack brought on by his alcoholism.

John Warner (1927-2021) was a five-term US Senator, representing the state of Virginia, and a Secretary of the Navy. He was married to Elizabeth Taylor from 1978 until 1982. He died from heart failure at age 94.

Richard Burton (1924-1984) was married to Elizabeth Taylor from 1964 until 1984 and again from 1975 until 1976. He was in poor health by the time of his death due to alcoholism and heavy smoking.

Answer: Cricket

Hansie Cronje (1969-2002) was captain for the South African cricket squad in the late 1990s with a record of 27 wins and 11 losses in matches. He was regarded as one of the best all-rounders (capable batsman and bowler) during his career. In 2000 he was banned from cricket for life for alleged match-fixing.

In 2002 he and two pilots of a small airplane lost their lives when the plane crashed into a mountain in poor visibility conditions. Some believe that the defective navigational gear on the plane was a sign that he was murdered by the betting syndicate to prevent further disclosures about the match-fixing scandal.

Answer: Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968) died while flying a training mission on a MIG-15. Ironically, Gagarin had been a member of the backup crew for the Soyuz 1 spacecraft that crashed, and he was then removed from the Russian space missions to protect his life from dangerous space travel.

Alan Shepard (1923-1998) was the first American to fly in space and the fifth person to walk on the moon. He died from leukemia.

Chuck Yeager (1923-2020) was the first person to break the sound barrier. During World War II he was credited with downing 11.5 enemy aircraft, including five in a single mission. He died in a Los Angeles hospital at age 97.

John Glenn (1921-2016) was the third American into space and the first to orbit the earth. He later served as a Senator from the state of Ohio and after retirement he flew another space mission at age 77. He died at age 95 from undisclosed causes.

Answer: Sonny Bono

Sono Bono (1935-1998) was an American singer, who gained fame as part of a duo with his wife Cher. He later became mayor of Palm Springs and a US congressman. He died after hitting a tree while skiing near Lake Tahoe.

Patsy Cline (1932-1963) was a country singer, most well known for the songs "I Fall to Pieces" and "Crazy". She died in a plane crash during bad weather conditions while returning to Nashville from Kansas City. Unfortunately, she refused an offer from Dotty West to drive with her after their flight was delayed, and again refused an offer to stay overnight when the plane made a refueling stop.

Jim Croce (1943-1973) was an American folk and rock singer, known for his "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" song. He died when his plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Natchitoches, Louisiana.

John Denver (1943-1997) was a very popular American singer, who died in a crash of a home-built Rutan light airplane during a series of touch and go landings. Later investigations blamed the crash on the placement of the switch to change fuel tanks and the difficulty setting it.

Answer: Spokane minor league baseball team

If you know the legend of Jack (Lucky) Lohrke (1914-2009), you know that in the year 1948 the Spokane Indians baseball team bus crashed in the mountains of the state of Washington, killing 9 members.

Before dying at age 85, Lohrke had survived a train crash which killed 3, survived the Battle of the Bulge, despite four other soldiers beside him being killed, was bumped at the last minute from a plane that crashed, and was pulled from the fatal bus ride in mid-journey due to a promotion to a higher baseball league.

The Manchester United soccer team crashed in 1958 on a return trip from a tournament game in Munich. Eight players and fifteen other passengers died when the plane crashed while attempting to take off. The first two attempts that day had been aborted due to the bad weather conditions, and the plane failed to reach the speed needed for take-off on its final attempt.

The Marshall University football team was returning home from a game against East Carolina University in 1970 when its plane crashed into a mountain, killing 75 passengers. It was the only game that year which Marshall was scheduled to travel by air.

The US Junior Figure Skating team suffered a plane crash while the team was flying from New York City to Brussels for the World Championships to be held in Prague. The crash, due to a tail stabilizer failure, was the first crash ever of the Boeing 707. The US Figure Skating team, to this day, now requires teams to fly on more than one flight.

Answer: Yogi Berra

New York Yankees' catcher Yogi Berra (1925-2015) died from natural causes at the age of 90.

Roy Halladay (1977-2017), a pitcher for Toronto and Philadelphia, died as a result of a plane crash in the Gulf of Mexico. He was piloting an amphibious plane he had just purchased and had engaged in dangerous maneuvers. During his baseball career he had thrown a perfect game (no base runners allowed) and also the second no-hitter in the playoffs.

Roberto Clemente (1934-1972) died in a plane crash while accompanying relief supplies to Managua, Nicaragua, after it experienced a massive earthquake. Clemente had learned that the first three shipments of relief supplies he had raised had been stolen by the government; so he flew with the fourth shipment to ensure that they reached the people. His plane crashed after takeoff due to engine failure. During his career with Pittsburgh, Clemente was a perennial AllStar with a legendary outfield arm.

Thurman Munson (1947-1979) was a New York Yankees catcher for eleven years. He died in a plane he had just purchase while practicing touch-and-go landings. On his final attempt that day, he failed to extend the airplane flaps and lost power.

Answer: Richard Petty

Richard Petty (1937- ) is a retired NASCAR racing champion.

Graham Hill (1929-1975) was a racing champion in Formula-1 racing, the 24 hour Le Mans race and the Indianapolis 500. He died when the plane he was piloting crahed during foggy weather near London.

Lance Reventlow (1936-1972) was the child of a Danish nobleman and Barbara Hutton, heir to the Woolworth fortune. Reventlow used his wealth to establish a racing team, which had limited success. He died in a plane crash while working on developing a ski resort near Aspen, Colorado. Although Reventlow was an experienced pilot, his plane was flown by an inexperienced one, who flew into a blind canyon during a thunderstorm and stalled the plane.

Davey Allison (1961-1993) was a champion NASCAR racer. He died in a helicopter crash while attempting to fly to a friend's race.