Northwest Airlines Flight 5

Northwest Airlines Flight 5

A Douglas DC-3 painted in a Northwest Airlines livery, similar to the accident involved
Accident
Date	October 30, 1941 (1941-10-30)
Summary	Crashed following icing conditions
Site	Moorhead, Minnesota, United States 46°54′55″N96°44′33″W / 46.91525°N 96.74242°W / 46.91525; -96.74242 (approximate)
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Douglas DC-3A-269
Registration	NC21712
Flight origin	Chicago
1st stopover	Madison, Wisconsin
2nd stopover	Minneapolis, Minnesota
3rd stopover	Fargo, North Dakota
4th stopover	Billings, Montana
5th stopover	Butte, Montana
Last stopover	Spokane, Washington
Destination	Seattle
Passengers	12
Crew	3
Fatalities	14
Injuries	1
Survivors	1 (Clarence F. Bates)

Northwest Airlines Flight 5 was a regularly scheduled, multiple stop flight from Chicago Municipal Airport to Boeing Field, Seattle. It had intermediate stops at Minneapolis; Fargo, North Dakota; Billings, Montana; Butte, Montana; and Spokane, Washington. On October 30, 1941, on the flight's leg between Minneapolis and Fargo, the Northwest Airlines Douglas DC-3A-269 operating the route crashed into an open field about 2+1⁄2 miles east of the Fargo airfield, just after 2:00 am local time. All 12 passengers and two of the three crew members aboard were killed. ^[1]

Investigation

The cause of the crash was determined to be an excessive buildup of ice on the aircraft's wings. ^{[1] [2]}

Aftermath

Clarence Bates, the flight's captain and sole survivor, died a year later in an aviation accident in St. Paul, Minnesota, test flying a Consolidated B-24. ^[3]

References

1. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Douglas DC-3A-269 NC21712 Moorhead, MN". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
2. Civil Aeronautics Board, ed. (October 30, 1941), Investigation of Aircraft Accident: NORTHWEST AIRLINES: MOORHEAD, MINNESOTA: 1941-10-30 , retrieved March 18, 2025
3. "The Worst Plane Crash In Minnesota History" (PDF). Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County Online .