33 Killed In Two Air Crashes In U.S.

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28894, 14 May 1959, Page 15

33 Killed In Two Air Crashes In U.S.

(Rec. 9.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, May 13. Investigators today sought reasons for the crashes of two Capital Airline planes within 48 minutes of each other—but 450 miles apart—in which 33 persons died.

A British-built turbo-prop Vis- . count carrying 27 passengers and I a crew of four blew apart in the air near Baltimore late yesterday, scattering wreckage and bodies over a wide area. None : survived the crash, which ; occurred in a thunderstorm. ’’ain was also a factor in the • earlier crash of a Capital Air- : lines Constellation carrying 36 passengers and five crew mem- • bers, in which two persons were killed. The Constellation had just landed in light rain at the Charleston Airport, West Virginia, when it skidded, plunged over a steep embankment and burst into flames. Eyewitnesses to the Viscount tragedy spoke of hearing two explosions before the big aircraft plunged to earth in pieces. One witness said the plane might have been struck by lightning. But the Civil Aeronautics Board in Washington said it 'Jiad no record of any airliner ever having been exploded in such a way The C.A.8.. which sent investigators to the scene, said aeroplanes had been struck by lightning frequently but that only slight damage has resulted. This was because the electrical charge was not grounded when an aircraft was in the air. The crashes' yesterday followed nearly a year of flying by Capital Airlines without a fatality. The airline had two fatal crashes within six weeks in 1958. All 47 aboard were killed when a Viscount crashed and exploded at Midland, Michigan.’ on April 6. On May 20. 12 persons were killed in a collision between a Viscount and a Maryland Air National Guard (territorial) jet training plane over Brunswick. Georgia. Officials could not recall any previous occasion when a major airline had had two fatal crashes on the same day. The worst commercial airline accident in the United States occurred on June 30. 1956. when a Trans-World Airlines SuperConstellation and a DC7 of United Airlines collided over the Grand Canyon, killing all 128 aboard the two aircraft. Both aircraft in yesterday’s crashes had been bound for

Atlanta. Georgia, on flights which began in New York State. The search for the bodies in the Baltimore crash centred on the farm of Mr Roy Norris, who said he had seen “bodies with arms off, legs off, all over the place. It’s a hell of a mess,” he said. One of the bodies fell into Eastern avenue, a main road in the area.