June 30, 1956: Trans World Airlines / United Air Lines, Lockheed L-1049 (N6902C) / Douglas DC-7 (N6324C) Mid-Air Collision, Grand Canyon, AZ
June 30, 1956. Two transcontinental airliners departed three minutes apart from Los Angeles International Airport in California. Trans World Airlines Flight 2, (N6902C), a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation en-route to Kansas City, MO and then continuing to Baltimore/Washington D.C. TWA Flight 2 carried 70 passengers and crew, many of which were TWA employees and families traveling on company passes. United Air Lines Flight 718 was a Douglas DC-7, (N6324C) bound for Chicago, IL with 58 passengers and crew.
Based on their destinations and routes, both aircraft would be flying converging courses to their destinations; however a request for altitude change by TWA Flight 2 due to weather brought both aircraft to fly at a cruising altitude of 21,000 feet.
At 1030 AM (PST), both aircraft collided over eastern the Grand Canyon in Northern Arizona. There were no warnings, no alerts, and no survivors among the 128 persons. Only a garbled distress call received from United flight 718 would give any hint of a problem.
After an hour of repeated calls from air traffic control, the two flights were officially reported as missing and overdue. A search for the airliners was initiated by several military and state agencies, but it was Palen Hudgin and his brother flying an air tour with Grand Canyon Airlines that would later recall seeing smoke near Temple Butte earlier in the day. The two returned before dark and confirmed the impact site of the TWA Constellation on the northeast slope of Temple Butte. Not far from the burning wreckage was the Constellation's distinctive triple tail smashed against the boulders.
Authorities acted quickly on the Hudgin's report of the downed aircraft and the following morning a military helicopter would not only confirm the brother's sighting, but also discovered the smoldering impact site of the DC-7 atop a 1,000 foot ledge of Chuar Butte. At the time it was the worst air disaster in the history of civil aviation.
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HISTORICAL SUMMARY:
The following photos depict this historical but tragic event in aviation history. As a result of this accident many improvements were made to the national airspace system such as nationwide radar coverage and ATC transponder requirements. After a series of congressional hearings, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was also created as a result of this tragedy.
Since 1990, I have made five trips into the Grand Canyon to map and document the impact sites and remaining wreckage. Each examination visit required a 6-7 day backpacking trip (40+ miles) as well as a solo crossing by raft of the Colorado River to reach the sites.
AIRCRAFT INVOLVED:
Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, (N6902C) "Star of the Seine" photographed for a pre-delivery photo shoot.
On May 22, 1952, ship #902 was TWA's second Super Constellation to be delivered to the airline from an original order of 10 aircraft placed by the airline on December 5, 1950.
The aircraft had accumulated 10,519 flight hours by June 30, 1956. (LostFlights Archive Photo)
Photographed in-flight is United Air Lines Douglas DC-7, N6302C bearing the same livery that "Mainliner Vancouver", N6324C would have had at the time of the accident. (LostFlights Archive Photo)
An early TWA promotional brochure from 1951 introducing the new Super Constellation.
1954 TWA Super Constellation advertisement.
During the early 1950s, TWA provided advertising photos of N6902C to companies that built aircraft systems for the Lockheed Super Constellation. In this case, B.F. Goodrich for providing wing and tail De-Ice Boots.
N6902C on a period postcard for TWA. Needless to say after the accident, TWA no longer produced postcards or advertisements that featured the ill-fated airliner.
FLIGHT CREW OF TWA FLIGHT 2;
Captain Jack S. Gandy, 41 was a veteran pilot for Trans World Airlines with 14,922 hours total time and 7,208 hours in the Lockheed Constellation. Captain Gandy had been with TWA since 1939 and became a Captain on DC-3s in 1942.
Captain Gandy having served active duty during WW2, he also served in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1937-1954. Gandy was familiar with the route on June 30th, having flown it more than 177 times.
Co-pilot James Ritner, 31 had been with TWA since 1951. Based in Kansas City, Ritner had 6,976 hours with 825 hours in the Super Constellation.
Forrest Breyfogle, 37 was TWA Flight 2's Flight Engineer.
Harry Allen, 35 was a new Flight Engineer for TWA. He was traveling home on Flight 2 as an Additional Crew Member (ACM) en-route to Kansas City.
TWA Hostess Beth Davis, 25 had been with TWA since 1953. Miss Davis had recently received a full scholarship for a Master's in Education and planned to quit flying within a month to return to school. (Davis Family Collection)
Hostess Tracine Armbruster, 30 had been with TWA since 1950.
1955 United Air Lines advertisement for the new Douglas DC-7.
At a cruising speed of 365 mph, The DC-7 was one of the fastest and most advanced airliners of it's time.
1955 United Air Lines advertisement promoting it's DC-7 service to Hawaii. Pictured is N6325C, sister ship of Mainliner Vancouver.
FLIGHTCREW OF UAL FLIGHT 718
Captain Robert Shirley age 48, had been with United Air Lines since 1937. Captain Shirley accumulated a total of 16,492 flight hours by the time he took command of Flight 718 on June 30th.
Co-pilot Robert Harms, 36 had been with United Air Lines since 1951. With only 230 hours in the type, Harms was relatively new to the DC-7.
It was determined later in the accident investigation that First Officer Harms made the only distress call after the collision; "Salt Lake...United 718...We're Goin in!"
Girardo Fiore, age 39 was United Flight 718's Flight Engineer. Employed by United Air Lines as a mechanic in 1948, he became a Flight Engineer in 1951.
Stewardess Nancy Kemnitz, age 24 had been with United since February 1954.
Margaret Shoudt, age 26 had been a Stewardess for United since September 1954.
Passengers that were booked on the June 30th UAL Flight 718 and TWA Flight 2 would have referred to these airline timetables for departure and flight time information. (LostFlights Archive Photo)
Los Angeles International Airport during the mid 1950s. Both United and TWA boarded passengers from the same ramp space.
Passengers seen boarding Flight 718, "The Hollywood" from Los Angeles. This promotion photo was probably taken during United's inauguration of the new service from Los Angeles, California. (LostFlights Archive Photo)
A undated and rare photo of N6902C starting engines during a maintenance check at Chicago's Midway Airport. (LostFlights Archive Photo)
The passenger cabin seating configurations for both the UAL Douglas DC-7 and TWA Lockheed Super Constellation.
At around 1030 AM (PST), the passengers of TWA Flight 2 were probably finishing a snack and beverage provided by Hostesses Beth Davis and Tracine Armbruster.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL - 1956
Los Angeles Center handled both flights until they crossed the Colorado River into Arizona. The flights were then monitored by by either Denver or Salt Lake City Air Traffic Control (ATC).
There was no ATC radar coverage across most of the U.S. in 1956. Commercial airliners would report positions to controllers and estimate their time to the next position. (LostFlights Archive Photo)
Aeronautical Radio Inc. (ARINC) radio controllers were under contract by United Air Lines to relay clearances and traffic advisories.
Unfortunately no controllers advised United Flight 718 of TWA Flight 2's requested change of cruising altitude. (LostFlights Archive Photo)
COLLISION OVER THE CANYON - 10:31 AM (PST):
With United Flight 718 converging from behind and to the right, the crew of TWA Flight 2 never knew what hit them. (LostFlights Archive Photo)
This artwork appeared in a Tucson newspaper during the early 1990s when the paper ran a featured series on air safety in the Grand Canyon.
Nearly accurate with the exception of the overly dramatic fiery explosion coming from the tail of the Connie.
I sketched these two drawings for my 1992 article about the accident which appeared in Airliners Magazine.
In my sketches I chose to capture those final micro-seconds before impact. The angles and positions were based on findings from the CAB Accident Report.
In 2007, I donated my original sketches to the Grand Canyon National Park Archive Collection. The same year, I donated over 130 images taken during my crash site visits to the Northern Arizona University Special Collections.
This artwork of the collision by Milford "Mel" Hunter was published by LIFE Magazine in their April 29, 1957 issue.
Mr. Hunter was given early and unrestricted access to the CAB's data and preliminary findings, enabling him to produce an illustration of what likely occurred at the moment of the collision. (LIFE Magazine)
TAIL SEPARATION / PASSENGER CABIN DECOMPRESSION:
During the CAB investigation, it was discovered that a majority of the collision damage to TWA Flight 2 occurred in this area of the aircraft.
The UAL DC-7's left wing tore across the right and center tail fins. The left wing continued to disintegrate as it tore down and through the pressurized cabin from the lounge (square window) and stopping just prior to the main passenger entrance door (small round window).
With the tail mounts weakened, the entire tail structure separated, pulling with it the upper cabin structure and interior items.
The pressurized cabin of the Constellation was ruptured during the collision with United Flight 718.
Most of the upper ceiling panels down to window level of the aft passenger cabin were torn away as the DC-7's left wing pushed through the aft section of the Constellation. (LostFlights Archive Photo)
Evidence located during my on-site field examinations indicate that the aft lounge forward to the main entrance door received significant catastrophic damage in the collision.
Among the wreckage that free-fell from the aft lounge and located in the debris field were; seat frames, overhead cabin panels and aft lounge window fragments. (LostFlights Archive Photo)
VANISHED FLIGHTS:
Mrs. Lacy Whitman of St. Louis, Mo. reacts in the Kansas City TWA Terminal upon hearing news of the missing and presumed downed TWA Flight 2.
Her half sister, Miss Bessie Whitman was a passenger on the flight. (AP Wirephoto)
Initially, the airliners were reported as missing over the vast Northern Arizona desert. Vague reports of wreckgage were reported.
The next day on July 1st., it was confirmed that all 128 passengers and crew on both planes had been killed in the collision.
THE INVESTIGATION BEGINS:
This route map from the CAB Accident Report outlines the routes taken by each flight as they progressed eastbound toward their destinations.
Contrary to many accounts, the weather was not clear and unrestricted at the time of the collision.
TWA Flight 2, having to maintain Visual Flight Rules (VFR) per their 1,000 foot on top clearance probably would have been dodging towering thunderheads. While UAL Flight 718 on an Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) flight plan would not have the visibility and cloud clearance restrictions.
This was considered as a major factor in the disaster and ultimately led to a change in Federal Air Regulations prohibiting VFR flights above 18,000 feet.
This aerial photograph taken by a LIFE Magazine photographer during the recovery operation shows the location of the two crash sites and the harsh terrain.
The bottom arrow points to the impact point of TWA Flight 2 on Temple Butte. The upper arrow points to the main impact site of UAL Flight 718.
United Air Lines official Richard Petty (left) meets with TWA's Vice President of Operations, John Collings at the Grand Canyon Red Butte Airport.
TWA FLIGHT 2 MAIN IMPACT SITE:
NPS File photo of the TWA Impact Site. Taken during the CAB's wreckage recovery visit of October 1956. (LostFlights Archive Photo)
A burned forward fuselage fragment photographed at the TWA impact site, July 1956. (NPS Photo)
October 1956 photo of the TWA Impact Site. (LostFlights Archive Photo)
Overview photo of the TWA main impact site taken during July 1956. After the collision and with the separation of the tail section, the Constellation pitched over and decended vertically and inverted until impact.
