Miller Brewing Company

Lockheed PV-1 Ventura

The aircraft took off from runway 01 of General Mitchell Fields Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at approximately 1708 for an IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) flight to Winnipeg, Canada. Aboard were Pilot Joseph Laird, copilot Paul Laird, and two passengers, Frederick Miller Sr., President of the Miller Brewing Company, and his son, Fred Miller Jr. As N44M was passing over the northern boundary of the airport, after an apparently normal takeoff, the Mitchell Field Tower Controller received the message, "an engine on fire" and "making an emergency landing." The controller acknowledged this message and the pilot reported something about an engine sputtering. The aircraft which had started a turn to the left at this times was cleared to return to the airport and use air runway. The pilot then reported an engine feathered. As the controller turned up all runway lights to the highest intensity, personnel in the tower observed a mushrooming mass of flame just north of the field. The aircraft had crashed in a nose-down right-wing-low attitude in an open field approximately 3,200 feet north of the airport and west of a projected line of runway 01. Fire of large magnitude occurred after ground impact and continued for several hours before it was completely extinguished. All four occupants were killed.