Lost Media: The Skyway Man

The Skyway Man was a silent film from 1920 that featured plane stunts and one of the real-life deaths on the screen. According to Wikipedia the plot of the movie was as the following:

"Captain Norman Craig (Ormer Locklear) returns from the Lafayette Escadrille as a shell-shocked veteran, suffering from amnesia. Seeing him wandering around San Francisco, his girlfriend Virginia Ames (Louise Lovely), with the help of Dr. Wayne Leveridge (Sam De Grasse), devises a plan to help him restore his memory. Her family hires Craig to pursue a pair of supposed Russian thieves after the Ames jewels. The doctor, however, has plans to steal the jewels and wants Virginia for himself. An aerial chase ending with a tailspin and crash brings Craig back to his senses. He is able to thwart the doctor's schemes and finally remembers his girlfriend."

On the night of August 20, 1920, it was the last night of filming for the film Skyway Man in Los Angelos, California. What was being filmed was a stunt scene involving the illusion of a biplane crashing. The stunt was to be done by Omar Locklear and Milton "Skeets" Elliot. Both were professional pilots. They were a part of the Locklear Flying Circus. 

Things didn't go to plan and went horribly wrong. The boys were flying the plane and had flares on the wings to make the illusion they were on fire. The crew was supposed to turn off the lights when Omar and Skeets were close to the ground. The lights weren't turned off and this may have blinded the two and make them realize how close to the ground they were. The plane crashed and the two were killed immediately. 

All of this was caught on film. Omar's girlfriend Viola Dana was also on set. Her horrified reaction was also caught on film. It was decided to put both the crash and their death, and Viola's reaction in the film. It was then released on September 5, 1920. This makes it one of the first films to have a real death in it. Now, this film is lost to time. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

IMDB

Lost Media Wiki