Sabotage: A Chronicle of the Chesterton Crash

Volume 1

By: Bryan W. Alaspa

Narrated by: John Eastman

In October of 1933 a plane carrying seven people exploded and crashed over Chesterton, Indiana, on its way to Chicago, killing all on board. The crash shocked the small community of Chesterton, but what really shocked the country was the revelation that it was a bomb that brought the plane down. The airline industry was new, and the news of a bomb was potentially disastrous to an industry that was still trying to prove itself safe to a skeptical public and that was also experiencing labor problems with its pilots and mechanics.

The man in charge of the investigation as none other than Melvin Purvis, the G-man in charge of the Chicago FBI office and the man who would become a superstar for bringing down John Dillinger. However, what no one knew was that pressure from J. Edgar Hoover to capture bank robbers and gangsters, plus Hoover's petty jealousy over the increasing popularity of Purvis, made life in the Chicago FBI office a living hell as Purvis and his men juggled dozens of cases while also trying to find a culprit in the Chesterton plane bombing. It is a mystery that remains to this day, but hardly anyone knows about it. For the first time, author Bryan Alaspa explores the FBI files, presents the evidence the investigators found, and presents the story of what was happening behind-the-scenes at the FBI. For the first time, the story of the Chesterton Crash is told. Today, we would say that the incident was the first case of terrorism against a commercial airliner. Back then, they just called it Sabotage.

©2012 Bryan W. Alaspa (P)2013 Bryan W. Alaspa