h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Film due out in the States about the Marshall University American football program which lost almost its entire team in a plane crash in 1970.

BBS

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/9878663

Hi Bright Blue Shorts

Thanks for that link - it sounds like a fascinating story, but it's probably unlikely to come to the UK - I'll keep an eye on the TV schedules after a year or so, just in case.

I found lots of examples of US sports teams involved in crashes - too many to include, so I just concentrated on the better known professional teams and national teams.

Others I found were:

Oct 29, 1960: The Cal Poly San Luis Obispo football team lost 16 out of the 22 killed (out of 48) when their Arctic Pacific Curtiss C-46F-1-CU crashed on take-off at Toledo, Ohio.

Apr 28, 1968: all 6 members of the Lamar Tech Track Team and the pilot were killed when their Beechcraft 65 crashed near Beaumont, Texas and caught fire.

Oct 2, 1970: The Wichita State College football team's Golden Eagle pilot took a route through a mountain valley but couldn't escape and crashed at Silver Plume, Colorado. 32 of the 40 aboard were killed.

Dec 13, 1977: The Evansville, Indiana basketball team were among 29 killed when their Douglas DC-3 crashed on take-off in fog. The aileron and rudder remained locked during takeoff, apparently due to Improperly loaded luggage.

Nov 25, 1985: The Iowa State University women's cross-country team's Rockwell International 500-S crashed while attempting to land at Des Moines, Iowa, after possibly encountering wake turbulence from a B-727. (No casualty figures)

Jan 27, 2001 Two members and 6 staff from theOklahoma State University basketball team were among 10 killed when their Beech King Air 200 aircraft banked sharply to the right and crashed on a farm in light snow shortly after taking off from Jefferson County Airport.

And 10 people associated with the Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR team were killed in a plane crash in 2004 (but I don't have details)

Icy