Northwest Airlines Flight 5 (1941)

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Northwest Airlines Flight 5
Accident
DateOctober 30, 1941 (1941-10-30)
SummaryCrashed 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 Minneapolis, Minnesota
2nd stopover Fargo, North Dakota
3rd stopover Billings, Montana
4th stopover Butte, Montana
Last stopover Spokane, Washington
Destination Seattle
Passengers12
Crew3
Fatalities14
Injuries1
Survivors1 (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 crewmembers aboard were killed. [1] The flight's captain Clarence Bates, the sole survivor, would end up dying himself a year later from another aviation accident in St. Paul, Minnesota, test-flying a Consolidated B-24. [2]

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

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References

  1. 1 2 Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Douglas DC-3A-269 NC21712 Moorhead, MN". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  2. "Clarence Frederick Bates (1900-1942) - Find A..." www.findagrave.com. Retrieved Feb 4, 2021.