Accident | |
---|---|
Date | October 23, 1942 |
Summary | Mid-air collision |
Site | Chino Canyon, Riverside County, California, U.S. 33°52′N116°34′W / 33.867°N 116.567°W |
Total fatalities | 12 |
Total survivors | 2 |
First aircraft | |
![]() An American Airlines DC-3, similar to the one lost in the mid-air collision. | |
Type | Douglas DC-3 |
Name | Flagship Connecticut |
Operator | American Airlines |
Registration | NC16017 |
Flight origin | Lockheed Air Terminal, California, U.S. |
Stopover | Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. |
Destination | New York, New York, U.S. |
Occupants | 12 |
Passengers | 9 |
Crew | 3 |
Fatalities | 12 |
Survivors | 0 |
Second aircraft | |
![]() A USAAF Lockheed B-34 'Lexington', similar to the one that collided. | |
Type | Lockheed B-34 'Lexington' (Ventura IIA) bomber |
Operator | U.S. Army Air Forces |
Registration | 41–38116 |
Flight origin | Long Beach Army Air Base, California, U.S. |
Destination | Palm Springs, California, U.S. |
Occupants | 2 |
Crew | 2 |
Fatalities | 0 |
Survivors | 2 |
American Airlines Flight 28 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight that crashed on October 23, 1942, in Chino Canyon near Palm Springs, California, United States, after being struck by a United States Army Air Forces B-34 bomber. The B-34 suffered only minor damage, and landed safely at the Army Airport of the Sixth Ferrying Command, Palm Springs. [1]
All nine passengers and three crewmembers on board the twin-engine DC-3 perished in the crash and subsequent fire; neither of the two Army pilots aboard the B-34 was injured. [2] The army pilot was later tried on manslaughter charges, but was found not guilty by a court-martial trial board. [3]
Casualties in the crash included Academy Award-winning Hollywood composer Ralph Rainger, [2] [4] who had written a number of hit songs including "I Wished on the Moon," "June in January," "Blue Hawaii," "Love in Bloom" (Jack Benny's signature song), and "Thanks for the Memory" (Bob Hope's signature song).
American Airlines Flight 28 was served by a Douglas DC-3, registration NC16017, powered by two 1,102 horsepower (822 kW) Wright Cyclone engines and full-feathering propellers. It had been approved and certified by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), and was rated to carry a maximum of twenty-one passengers and four crew. It was piloted by Captain Charles Fred Pedley, 42, who had flown for twelve years with American Airlines, and who had logged over 17,000 hours of flight time. The co-pilot was First Officer Louis Frederick Reppert, Jr., a 26-year-old pilot with 800 hours of flight time and six months' employment by the airline. The third crewmember was stewardess Estelle Frances Regan, age 27. [1]
The Lockheed Ventura B-34 Lexington bomber, serial number 41-38116, [5] was manufactured by the Lockheed Air Corporation and operated by the United States Army Air Forces. It was piloted by Lieutenant William Norman Wilson, 25, attached to the Air Transport Command and stationed at Long Beach, California. His copilot was Staff Sergeant Robert Reed Leicht, also 25, of the Sixth Ferrying Command, Army Air Forces, and also stationed at Long Beach. [1]
Flight 28 departed from the Lockheed Air Terminal in Burbank, California, at 4:36 p.m. PDT (UTC−7) on October 23, 1942. At 5:02 p.m., Captain Pedley reported his position over Riverside and estimated his arrival over Indio at 5:22 p.m. and 9,000 feet (2,700 m). At 4:26 p.m., the B-34 bomber departed from Long Beach en route to Palm Springs. Lieutenant Wilson proceeded to Riverside, circled twice near March Field, and continued toward the San Gorgonio Pass. [1]
At approximately 5:15 p.m., at an altitude of approximately 9,000 feet (2,700 m), Flight 28 was struck by the B-34. The DC-3 lost its rudder to the propeller from the B-34's right engine, along with portions of its tail. It fell from the sky in a flat spin and impacted a rocky ledge in Chino Canyon, below San Jacinto Peak, before crashing into the desert and exploding.
Lieutenant Wilson later testified at his court-martial proceedings that he first realized that the two aircraft had collided when he heard a "noise and a wrenching of my ship up... to my left." [1] He also testified that he noticed that his aircraft handled sluggishly and the right engine felt "rough." He was informed by his copilot that they had hit the airliner. The B-34 called the Palm Springs tower to notify them of the accident and then subsequently landed at Army Airport in Palm Springs.
The Burbank operator at the company station reported that he had picked up a message from Flight 28 at exactly 5:15 p.m., saying: "Flight 28 from Burbank... correction Burbank from Flight 28..." The radio operator was only able to distinguish the flight calling Burbank, and though he attempted to respond he received no answer from Flight 28. He then directed the message to the American Airlines Flight Superintendent at Burbank. The CAB determined that, as Flight 28 crashed at 5:15 p.m., it was possible that the pilots were attempting to report the collision. [1]
Three separate investigations into the accident occurred: a coroner's inquest, a military investigation and court martial, and the official congressional investigation of the CAB. Each of the three investigations was independent of the others.
The coroner's inquest was the first investigation to be completed, occurring shortly after the crash. Its purpose was not to decide absolute culpability, but rather to determine exactly the manner of death of the involved individuals. During the inquest, both surviving Army pilots testified that they had seen the airliner, but that they had subsequently lost sight of it when their aircraft flew into smoke from a nearby forest fire.
Airline officials and pilots had cause to say: 'I told you so.' Long & loud have been their complaints about Ferry Command pilots who hop on & off the airlines' beam without reporting positions to traffic controls.
CAB investigators arrived at the scene of the crash at midnight of October 23. The remnants of the aircraft were placed under military guard for the duration of the investigation. [1] During the course of the investigation, it was learned that Lt. Wilson of the B-34 and First Officer Reppert of Flight 28 had trained together, and had met up the previous night and talked about their chances of meeting while in flight. Though they briefly discussed the possibility of signaling each other, they made no such plans to the effect. The B-34 copilot, Sergeant Leigh, told investigators that Wilson had confided that he'd like to fly close to the airliner and "thumb his nose at him." [1] It was for this reason that the bomber circled twice around March Field in order to ensure that the aircraft would meet up during the flight to Palm Springs.
Subsequent depositions revealed that Lt. Wilson flew his B-34 level with the DC-3 and rocked his wings in greeting to First Officer Reppert. When Flight 28 did not respond in kind, the B-34 crossed over the airliner's line of flight and throttled back to allow the slower DC-3 to catch up. Wilson flew close to the airliner to attempt a second greeting but misjudged the distance between the aircraft, and when he tried to pull up, the B-34's right propeller sliced through the airliner's tail. [1]
The CAB determined that the cause of the crash was:
The reckless and irresponsible conduct of Lieutenant William N. Wilson in deliberately maneuvering a bomber in dangerous proximity to an airliner in an unjustifiable attempt to attract the attention of the first officer (copilot) of the latter plane.
— Civil Aeronautics Board Docket #SA-74, File# 2362-42.
Lt. Wilson faced manslaughter charges by the United States Army. During the course of the court-martial proceedings, a number of military witnesses produced testimony that corroborated the findings of the CAB. However, one witness, Private Roy West, provided testimony in direct contradiction of the previous witnesses. According to Private West:
They were coming through this Pass and the Bomber in a right bank and the airliner moved in under it. The airliner nosed down and the tail came up and hit the right motor of the Bomber and the tail was cut off....
— Roy West, Private, US Army, Army Court Martial Proceedings of Lieutenant William Wilson. [1]
The CAB dismissed West's statement as unreliable, as when a plane's nose dips, the tail does not rise by such a significant amount as witnessed by West. [1] However, the court martial trial board acquitted Lt. Wilson of blame in the accident. [3]
The B-34 that collided with American Flight 28 was repaired and re-designated as an RB-34A-4 target tug. On August 5, 1943, the same RB-34, serial number 41-38116, suffered engine failure during a ferry flight and crashed into Wolf Hill near Smithfield, Rhode Island, killing all three crew members. [6]
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1960.
United Air Lines Flight 615 was a US transcontinental east–west airline service from Boston to Hartford, Cleveland, Chicago, Oakland and San Francisco. On August 24, 1951, the Douglas DC-6 with registration N37550 operating the service, crashed on approach to Oakland, causing the death of all 44 passengers and 6 crew members on board.
Pan Am Flight 214 was a scheduled flight of Pan American World Airways from Isla Verde International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Friendship Airport near Baltimore, and then to Philadelphia International Airport. On December 8, 1963, while flying from Baltimore to Philadelphia, the Boeing 707-121 serving the flight crashed near Elkton, Maryland. All 81 occupants of the plane were killed. The crash was Pan Am's first fatal accident with the 707, which it had introduced to its fleet five years earlier.
American Airlines Flight 320 was a scheduled flight between Chicago Midway Airport and New York City's LaGuardia Airport. On February 3, 1959, the Lockheed L-188 Electra performing the flight crashed into the East River during its descent and approach to LaGuardia Airport, killing 65 of the 73 people on board. Weather conditions in the area were poor, and the aircraft descended through dense clouds and fog. As it approached the runway, it flew lower than the intended path and crashed into the icy river 4,900 feet (1,500 m) short of the runway. American Airlines had been flying the newly-developed Lockheed Electra in commercial service for only about two weeks before the crash, and the accident was the first involving the aircraft type.
National Airlines Flight 2511 was a United States domestic passenger flight from New York City to Miami, Florida. On January 6, 1960, the Douglas DC-6 serving the flight exploded in midair. The National Airlines aircraft was carrying 5 crew members and 29 passengers, all of whom perished. The Civil Aeronautics Board investigation concluded that the plane was brought down by a bomb made of dynamite. No criminal charges were ever filed, nor was the blame for the bombing ever determined, though a suicide bombing is suspected. The investigation remains open.
Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 was a domestic passenger flight from Boston, Massachusetts, to Atlanta, Georgia, with scheduled stopovers at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York; Richmond, Virginia; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Greenville, South Carolina. On the night of February 8, 1965, the aircraft serving the flight, a Douglas DC-7, crashed near Jones Beach State Park, New York, just after taking off from JFK Airport. All 79 passengers and five crew aboard died.
Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 was a Fairchild F27A Friendship airliner that crashed on May 7, 1964, near Danville, California, a suburb east of Oakland. The crash was most likely the first instance in the United States of an airliner's pilots being shot by a passenger as part of a murder–suicide. Francisco Paula Gonzales, 27, shot both pilots before turning the gun on himself, causing the plane to crash, killing all 44 aboard.
American Airlines Flight 157, a Douglas DC-6, departed on November 29, 1949, from New York City bound for Mexico City with 46 passengers and crew. After one engine failed in mid-flight, a series of critical mistakes by the flight crew caused the pilot to lose control of the plane during the final approach to a routine stopover at Love Field in Dallas, Texas. The airliner slid off the runway and struck a parked airplane, a hangar, and a flight school before crashing into a business across from the airport. 26 passengers and two flight attendants died. The pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, and 15 passengers survived.
On August 31, 1940, Pennsylvania Central Airlines Trip 19, a new Douglas DC-3A, was flying from Washington, D.C. to Detroit with a stopover in Pittsburgh. While the aircraft was flying near Lovettsville, Virginia at 6,000 feet (1,800 m) and approaching the West Virginia border, Trip 19 encountered an intense thunderstorm. Numerous witnesses reported seeing a large flash of lightning shortly before it nosed over and plunged to earth in an alfalfa field. With limited accident investigation tools at the time, it was at first believed that the most likely cause was the plane flying into windshear, but the Civil Aeronautics Board report concluded that the probable cause was a lightning strike. U.S. Senator Ernest Lundeen was among the 21 passengers and 4 crew members killed. Also on board were "a Special Agent of the FBI, a second FBI employee, and a prosecutor from the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice." At the time of the crash, the FBI was investigating Sen. Lundeen's ties to George Sylvester Viereck, a top Nazi spy working in the US to spread pro-Hitler and anti-Semitic propaganda.
United Air Lines Flight 297 was a scheduled flight from Newark International Airport to Atlanta that crashed 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Baltimore on November 23, 1962, killing all 17 people on board. An investigation concluded that the aircraft, a Vickers Viscount 745D turboprop airliner, had struck at least two whistling swans, which caused severe damage to the plane, resulting in a loss of control.
TWA Flight 3 was a twin-engine Douglas DC-3-382 propliner, registration NC1946, operated by Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA) as a scheduled domestic passenger flight from New York, New York, to Burbank, California, in the United States, via several stopovers including Las Vegas, Nevada. On January 16, 1942, at 19:20 PST, fifteen minutes after takeoff from Las Vegas Airport bound for Burbank, the aircraft was destroyed when it crashed into a sheer cliff on Potosi Mountain, 32 miles (51 km) southwest of the airport, at an elevation of 7,770 ft (2,370 m) above sea level. All 22 people on board, including movie star Carole Lombard, her mother, and three crew members, died in the crash. The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) investigated the accident and determined that the cause was a navigation error by the captain.
The Grand Canyon mid-air collision occurred in the western United States on June 30, 1956, when a United Airlines Douglas DC-7 struck a Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation over Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. The first plane fell into the canyon while the other slammed into a rock face. All 128 on board both airplanes perished, making it the first commercial airline incident to exceed one hundred fatalities. The airplanes had departed Los Angeles International Airport minutes apart from each other and headed for Chicago and Kansas City, respectively. The collision took place in uncontrolled airspace, where it was the pilots' responsibility to maintain separation. This highlighted the antiquated state of air traffic control, which became the focus of major aviation reforms.
American Airlines Flight 63 was an American Airlines DC-3 nicknamed the Flagship Missouri that crashed on October 15, 1943, near Centerville, Tennessee, after ice formed on its wings and propeller. All eight passengers and three crewmembers died. This was the second fatal crash of an aircraft designated Flight 63, occurring 2+1⁄2 months after the crash of the Flagship Missouri’s sister ship, the Flagship Ohio.
American Airlines Flight 910, a four-engine Douglas DC-6 propliner, collided in mid-air with a single engine Temco Swift on final approach to Dallas Love Field on June 28, 1952, over Dallas, Texas. The DC-6 was carrying 55 passengers and 5 crew members from San Francisco, California. The DC-6 landed with no injuries to any of its 60 occupants, while both occupants of the two-person Swift died when their aircraft impacted the ground.
Northwest Airlines Flight 421 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight from Chicago, Illinois to Minneapolis, Minnesota that crashed on 29 August 1948. The Martin 2-0-2 aircraft, operated by Northwest Airlines, suffered structural failure in its left wing and crashed approximately 4.1 miles (6.6 km) northwest of Winona, Minnesota, about 95 miles (153 km) southeast of Minneapolis. A Civil Aeronautics Board investigation determined that the crash was caused by fatigue cracks in the wings of the aircraft, and recommended lower speeds and frequent inspections of all Martin 2-0-2 aircraft. All 33 passengers and 4 crewmembers on board were killed. The crash was the first loss of a Martin 2-0-2, and remains the worst accident involving a Martin 2-0-2.
National Airlines Flight 16 was a domestic (U.S.), scheduled passenger flight from Miami, Florida, to Lakeland, Florida, that crashed on October 5, 1945. The aircraft was on the last leg of a Miami-Fort Myers-Sarasota-St Petersburg-Tampa-Lakeland route. The cause of the crash was determined to be a faulty missed approach procedure, which caused the aircraft to overshoot the runway and land in Lake Parker approximately 1,000 feet (300 m) beyond. Two passengers drowned, and several others were injured.
United Air Lines Flight 736 was a scheduled transcontinental passenger service flown daily by United Airlines between Los Angeles and New York City. On April 21, 1958, the airliner assigned to the flight, a Douglas DC-7 with 47 on board, was flying over Clark County, Nevada in clear weather when it was involved in a daytime mid-air collision with a United States Air Force fighter jet crewed by two pilots. Both aircraft fell out of control from 21,000 feet (6,400 m) and crashed into unpopulated desert terrain southwest of Las Vegas, leaving no survivors. The loss of Flight 736, one of a series of 1950s mid-air collisions involving passenger aircraft in American skies, helped usher-in widespread improvements in air traffic control within the United States, and led to a sweeping reorganization of federal government aviation authorities.
American Flyers Airline Flight 280/D was a flight operated on a U.S. Military Air Command contract from Monterey Regional Airport in California to Columbus Airport in Georgia, via Ardmore Municipal Airport, Oklahoma. On April 22, 1966, while approaching Runway 8 at Ardmore, the aircraft overshot the runway and crashed into a hill, bursting into flames. Eighty-three of the 98 passengers and crew on board died as a result of the accident.
Pan Am Flight 923 was a Douglas DC-4 operating from Seattle, Washington to Juneau, Alaska, which crashed into Tamgas Mountain on Annette Island, Alaska, on October 26, 1947. All 18 passengers and crew on board were killed.