Deseronto Archives

New York Tribune report on Heintzman and Rosenthal’s crash, May 30th, 1918

New York Flier Killed in Canada
Samuel Rosenthal and Lieutenant Heintzman Victims of Accident Near Toronto
DESERONTO, Ont., May 29. – Second Lieutenant T. H. Heintzman, of Toronto, was killed, and Cadet S. Rosenthal, of 28 Pinehurst Avenue, New York City, was so badly injured in an airplane accident near Rathburn aerodrome to-day that he died later.
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Cadet Samuel Rosenthal was twenty-four years old and lived with his father and mother Mr. and Mrs. E. L. Rosenthal, and four sisters at the Pinehurst Avenue address. Until last December, when he went to Canada to enlist, he was in business with his father at 820 Broadway.
Rosenthal was born in Montreal, Canada. He came to New York with his parents ten years ago, but was never naturalized. As a result he was not accepted when he tried to enlist in this country, and went to Canada in order to get into the army.
He was placed in the Royal Flying Corps in January, and in letters to his parents told of at least six flights he had made alone in the last few weeks. He expected to go abroad in a short time.

Thomas Herman Heintzman, a piano maker, enlisted in Toronto on November 20th, 1917. He was born in that city on July 26th, 1887, the son of Herman Heintzman and Lucy Ann (née Spink). He joined the Royal Flying Corps with the regimental number 152767. He was five feet eight inches tall. On April 24th, 1918, he was granted a temporary commission with the Royal Air Force, working as a flight instructor for the Deseronto Wing with 81 Canadian Training Squadron.

Samuel Rosenthal had joined the Royal Flying Corps in Montreal on January 17th, 1918 and was officially appointed to the Corps in Toronto two days later. His regimental number was 154067 and he was five feet four inches tall. He was born in Montreal on November 4th, 1893, the son of Eleazer and Fanny Rosenthal.

The Royal Air Force report of the accident which killed the two men at Camp Rathbun noted:

…Date of Casualty: 29.5.18
Where occurred: Canada
Type of Machine: Curtiss JN4a C635
Nature and Cause of Accident: Dropped nose on steep bank at 150ft. Machine caught fire on striking ground.
Result of Accident: Killed
Name of other Occupant of Machine: Cadet S. Rosenthal Died of Inj’s.

Lieutenant Heintzman was killed instantly. Cadet Rosenthal’s death registration tells us that he survived for four and a half hours, before dying of shock from his burns.

Heintzman was interred in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto. Rosenthal was buried in the Shaar Hashomayin Cemetery in Montreal.