The dirigible Wingfoot Air Express crashes into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago, killing 12 people.

An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat (lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air to achieve the lift needed to stay airborne.

The Wingfoot Air Express was an early Goodyear blimp that caught fire and crashed into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago on July 21, 1919. The Type FD airship, manufactured and owned by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, was transporting passengers from Grant Park to the White City amusement park. One crew member, two passengers and ten bank employees were killed in what was the worst airship accident in the United States up to that time.

Chicago is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the third-most populous city in the United States with a population of 2.74 million at the 2020 census, while the Chicago metropolitan area has 9.41 million residents and is the third-largest metropolitan area in the nation. Chicago is the seat of Cook County, the second-most populous county in the United States.