It was December 16th, 1960, when this tragedy occurred over the skies of New York. We take a look at the accident from a cabin crew perspective.
United Airlines Flight 826
A Douglas DC-8 named 'Mainliner Will Rogers' departed at 03:20 from Los Angeles and arrived in Chicago, leaving again at 06:56, heading for Idlewild Airport in New York. There were 77 passengers and seven crew onboard. The captain was Robert Sawyer, the first officer Robert Fiebing and the flight engineer was Richard Pruitt.
In the cabin were flight attendants Mary Mahoney, Augustine Ferrar, Anne Bouthen, and Patricia Kellar. They had joined the flight in Chicago. Anne had been with the airline for seven years. Patricia had just joined the same year. Augustine had just been on a shopping trip to buy Christmas presents with her roommate. They were in good spirits and had traded their trips in order to be at home for Christmas with their families.
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Trans World Airlines Flight 266
The Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation named 'Star of Sicily' had traveled from Dayton and Columbus, in Ohio, before being bound for LaGuardia Airport. There were 39 passengers and five crew onboard. Captain David Wollam, first officer Dean Bowen and flight engineer LeRoy Rosenthal were at the flight deck.
The flight attendants were Margaret Gernat who'd been flying for two years, and Patricia Post, who had just joined the company in 1960. They were both looking forward to being back with their families for the holidays.
The flight
Both aircraft were flying under instrument flight rules, and there was sleet and fog over New York. On approach to LaGuardia, Flight 266 was controlled by New York air traffic control and the LaGuardia approach control. Flight 826 was also controlled by New York ATC but the Idlewild approach control.
The controllers in New York handed off Flight 266 to LaGuardia at 10:27 and cleared Flight 826 to Preston Intersection and advised them to hold. The flight was then handed to Idlewild.
Flight 826 informed their operations department that one of the VOR receivers was not working but did not inform ATC. LaGuardia told Flight 266 to make a right turn before setting up for the final approach. Just seconds later, they informed Flight 266 of traffic which went unacknowledged. Meantime, Flight 826 had made a navigational error and, instead of entering the holding pattern, had flown beyond the clearance limit and was still at high speed.
What happened?
At 10:33, the two aircraft collided at 5,200 feet over Staten Island. The DC-8 struck the Constellation at the rear right side. The number four engine broke open the cabin and severed off the right wing. The Constellation broke into three sections, caught fire, and crashed to the ground at Miller Field on Staten Island. Mangled metal and luggage were strewn across the island. One body landed in a tree.
The DC-8 continued northeast with a damaged right wing and number 4 engine before crashing in Park Slope, Brooklyn. There was a shower of flaming wreckage from the sky, and the tail of the stricken DC-8 crashed into an intersection.
The engines were white-hot, and the aircraft was smoldering. Jet fuel started fires to surrounding buildings and a church, and there were burned bodies. Two men selling Christmas trees were killed at the street corner, and another died shoveling snow. Three others died at the scene.
The aftermath
All 128 onboard were killed in the midair collision, and six people were killed on the ground. It was the deadliest air disaster at that time. There was initially a survivor, an 11-year-old boy called Stephen Baltz. He was unaccompanied and been given the flight as a gift. He was traveling to see relatives. He was thrown into a bank of snow, which distinguished his burning clothes. Unfortunately, he succumbed to his injuries the next day.
In 2010, 50 years after the tragedy, a memorial to all those who died was unveiled in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. It is also the site of a common grave of the bodies that could not be identified.