New York Mayor who fell out of an Airplane Monument, Central Park, New York, NY
Mayor John Purroy
Mitchel “"The Boy Mayor of New York." was the mayor from 1914
to 1917. He was only 34 and the second-youngest ever. He is remembered for his
short career, his tragic death as well as a reformist of New York politics. He
died while an Army air officer in the last months of World War One. He narrowly
lost the Republican primary to William Bennett when seeking reelection and
decided to join the Army Air Corps. He was thirteen days short of his
thirty-ninth birthday when he died. It was assumed that he had forgotten to
fasten his seat belt during a training exerciset over Lake Charles, Louisiana in
1918 and fell 500 feet to his death.