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Date/Time | Name / Group | Age | Notability | Accident Location | Aircraft | Details | Notes |
Jan 7,1950 | Moscow VVS ice hockey team | Sports team | Sverdlovsk, Ukraine | Eleven members of the team were killed. | |||
Mar 28, 1950 | Laurence Steinhart |
57 | U.S. Ambassador | Ramsayville, Ontario, Canada | Douglas C-47 | Crashed in flames in a snow covered field. Enigne failure. Five peoplle were killed. One crew member parachuted to safety. | |
Aug 26, 1951 | Bill Barilko |
24 | Toronto Maple Leafs hockey player | Near Cochrane, Ontario, Canada | Fairchild 24 | Crashed while returning from a fishing trip at James Bay with friend Henry Hudson. Wreckage found 11 years later on June 6, 1962. | PHOTO |
Nov 11,1951 | Ronald "Mack" Hellings | 35 | American race car driver | Kern County California | Piper PA 20 Pacer | PHOTO | |
Jan 22, 1952 | Robert Porter Patterson |
60 | Secretary of War under President Rosevelt | Elizabeth, New Jersey | American Airlines Flight 6780 Convair 240-0 N94229 |
Crashed into an apartment building during the approach. Official cause unknown. Possibly carburetor icing. All 23 aboard killed including 7 on the ground. | |
Mar 18, 1953 04:10 |
Richard E. Ellsworth |
42 | Brigadier General whose namesake is Elsworth AFB | Trinity Bay, Newfoundland | Convair RB-36H Peacemaker |
Flew into a hill while on a training mission from Lajes, Azores to Rapid City, South Dakota, All 23 aboard killed. | |
Sep 1, 1953 |
Jacques Thibaud |
72 | French violinist | Near Barcelonette, France | Air France. Lockheed 749C Constellation F-BAZZ |
Flew into Mt. Cemet in the French Alps. All 42 aboard killed. | PHOTO |
Oct 29, 1953 |
William Kapell |
31 | American pianist | Near Half Moon Bay, California | British Com. Flight 304 Pacific AL Douglas DC-6 VH-BPE |
Crashed while on approach to SF airport. Pilot error. Crew failed to follow prescribed procedures for a instrument approach. All 19 aboard killed. | PHOTO |
Nov 30, 1953 | Kimber "Kim" |
59 | Former governor of Michigan | Battle Creek, Michigan | Beechcraft Bonanza | Crashed into a TV broadcast tower in fog while piloting his plane. All 4 aboard killed. | |
Jan 10, 1954 09:30 |
Reginald "Chester" Wilmot | 42 | Australian broadcaster, correspondent | Elba, Italy | de Havilland DH106 Comet G-AlYP |
Broke up in midair due to a design flaw. All 35 people aboard killed. | |
Jan 10, 1954 18:00 |
Thomas E. Braniff |
71 | Co-founder of Braniff Airways | Shreveport, Louisiana | Grummand amphibian | While on a hunting trip his plane crashed into a house on the shore of Lake Wallace shortly after taking off. Icing. All 12 aboard killed. | |
Jun 30, 1954 | R.W. Blackwood Bill Lyles |
32 33 |
Members of the Blackwood Brothers Quartet gospel singers | Clanton, Alabama | Beechcraft 18 | During a practice landing the plane aborted the landing, stalled and dove into the ground. Blackwood who was piloting the plane forgot to re-trim the tabs from landing to takeoff. All 3 aboard killed. | |
Jul 1, 1954 | John McBride |
53 | Alabama Crimson Tide halfback | Kelly Air Force Base, Texas | Army trainer | Killed in an ROTC training flight. | |
Oct 30, 1954 | Wilbur Shaw |
52 | President of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway | Decatur, Indiana | Cessna | Crashed into a corn field and broke into pieces. All 3 aboard killed. | PHOTO |
Dec 25, 1954 | Kenneth Davidson | 49 | English cricketeer | Ayrshire, Scottland | Boeing B377 Stratocruiser G-ALSA |
Pilot landed too steep and flaired too late. Aircraft hit the ground short of the runway. Twenty-eight of 36 aboard killed. | |
Jul 31, 1955 | Robert Francis |
25 | American actor | Burbank, California | Beechcraft Bonanza | The plane he was piloting landed and then took off. The engine sputtered and the plane stalled and spun into the ground, bursting into flames. All 3 aboard killed. Appeared in the Caine Mutiny. | PHOTO |
Sep 20, 1956 18:21 |
Thomas Gastall |
23 | Baseball catcher for the Baltimore Orioles | Riviera Beach, Maryland | Aerocoupe | The last message received from the plane was Gastall was trying to make an emergency crash landing into Chesapeake Bay. His body was found 5 days later. | PHOTO |
Nov 24, 1956 |
Guido Cantelli |
35 | Italian orchestra and opera conductor | Paris, France | Linee Aeree Italiane Douglas DC-6B I-LEAD |
Crashed during takeoff. Cause undetermined. Thirty-four of 35 aboard killed. | |
Nov 27, 1956 | Charlie Peete |
27 | Baseball outfielder for the St Louis Cardinals | Cevilla, Venezuela | Linea Aeropostal Venezolana Lockheed Constellation Fight 253 YV-C-AMA |
Crashed into a 6,700 ft. mountain while on approach. Peete was on his way to play winter ball in Venezuela. All 25 aboard killed. | PHOTO |
Dec 9, 1956 19:15 |
Gordon Sturtridge, Mel Becket Ray Syrnyk Mario DeMarco Calvin Jones |
Canadian football pllayers, the Saskatchewan Rough Riders. | Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada | Trans Canada Air Lines Canadair DC-4M-2 Northstar Flight 810-9 CF-TFD |
The plane crashed into Mount Slesse after an engine caught fire and the plane experienced severe icing and turbulence. Five members of the Canadian Football League, returning from an all star game, were killed. Wreckage not found until May 10, 1957. | ||
Jan 31, 1957 11:18 |
Archie Twitchell |
50 | American test pilot, actor | Sunland, California | Douglas Aircraft Doublas DC-7B N8210H |
Twitchell, a test pilot for Douglas Aircraft, was killed when the plane he was copiloting crashed and burned on it's first test flight after a midair collision with a U.S. Air Force jet fighter. Twitchell was also an accomplished actor. All 5 aboard the plane, 1 of 2 aboard the jet and 3 on the ground were killed. | PHOTO |
Mar 17, 1957 |
Ramon Magsaysay |
50 | President of the Philippines | Cebu, Philippines | Philippine Air Force Douglas C-47 |
Crashed into Mt. Manunggal while on a campaign tour for reelection. All 24 aboard killed. | |
Apr 15, 1957 07:47 |
Pedro Infante Cruz |
39 | Mexican actor, singer | Merida, Mexico | TAMSA B-24 Liberator XA-KUN |
An engine failed on takeoff, causing the plane to spiral to the ground killing 2 on the ground as well as all occupants on the plane. Infante was co-piloting the plane. All 3 aboard killed. | PHOTO |
Feb 6, 1958 14:17 |
Donny Davies Manchester United football team |
65 |
Journalist, cricketeer British soccer team |
Munich, Germany | British European Airways Flight 609 Amb. A5-57 G-ALZU |
Unable to gain altitude, crashed at the end of the runway in a snowstorm. Controversy as to if the cause was ice on the wings or drag from slush on the runway. Twenty-three of 44 aboard killed. Eight team members killed. | PHOTO |
Mar 22, 1958 02:05 |
Mike Todd Art Cohn |
49 50 |
American film director and prooducer American screenwriter |
Grants, New Mexico | Lockheed Loadstar N300E |
The aircraft crashed in an area of fog snow and thunderstorms. Liz Taylor, his wife, stayed home ill with bronchitis. The plane was named The Lucky Liz. All 4 aboard including Art Cohn, his biographer were killed. | PHOTO |
Aug 14, 1958 3:45 |
Egyptian fencing team | Sports fencing team | North Atlantic Ocean, 100 miles W. of Ireland | KLM Flight 607E Flight 607E Lockheed Constellation PH-LKM |
Six member of the Egyptian fencing team were killed after the aircraft experienced overspeeding of the outer propeller. All 99 aboard killed. | ||
Feb 3, 1959 c 01:00 |
Ritchie Valens,17 Buddy Holly, 22 Jiles "the Big Bopper" Richardson |
17 22 28 |
Rock and roll singers | Mason City, Iowa | Beechcraft Bonanza N3794N |
Crashed shortly after taking off into poor weather conditions. The pilot was not IFR qualified and flying VFR. Possibly caused by spatial disorientation, unfamiliarity with the attitude indicator or icing. Valens got to go on the flip of a coin leaving Tommy Allsup behind. All 4 aboard killed, including pilot Roger Peterson. | PHOTO |
Mar 29, 1959 |
Barthélémy Boganda |
49 | President of the Central African Republic | Near Bangui Central African Republic | Atlas flying boxcar | The plane exploded in mid-air while on a flight from Berberati to Bangui. Speculation is the plane was shot down. All 9 aboard killed. | |
Apr 29, 1959 | Joaquin Blume |
25 | Spanish gymnastics champion | Valdemeca, Spain | Iberian Airlines DC-3 EC-ABC |
Crashed into the east slopes of Sierra de Valdemeca after being diverted due to poor weather. All 28 aboard killed. |