The 1950s Mid-Air Plane Crash Over Arizona That Will Never Be Forgotten

Throughout the history of Aviation, the skies over Arizona have been relatively free of commercial airline disasters. Only on a few occasions have there been crashes and one, in particular, was the first-ever mid-air collision over Arizona to result in more than 100 deaths. In fact, everyone aboard the two planes died and this horrific incident will never be forgotten.

The tragedy occurred on June 30, 1956 and is said to have sparked a nationwide overhaul of the Air Traffic Control system.

Back then, not all of the air space in the U.S. was monitored. Airplanes would often fall into uncontrolled airspace where they relied on their own visual field to steer clear of obstacles — like other planes. The crash involved a United Air Lines plane similar to the Douglas DC-7, N6302C shown above, as well as a TWA flight.

Both planes involved had taken off from Los Angeles and were en route to different airports.

Both had reported thunderheads in the area and both had been granted permission to fly a little lower than was customary. As it turns out, they ended up arriving at the edge of the Painted Desert at just about the same time; however, unknowingly, they were only separated by a single massive cumulus cloud.

Eventually, their paths merged and, relying on visual fields alone, the first pilot to spot the other plane (the Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation) attempted to correct his path to miss the other plane.

But his wing clipped the other plane's fuselage.

The resulting collision was deadly.

Evidence after the crash indicated that the TWA flight's wing was tipped downward at the time of the collision, which was not a head-on mid-air incident.

Both planes ended up crashing in different places within the Grand Canyon.

One one them made a rapid nosedive fall at speeds of more than 400 miles per hour. The other crashed into a butte and disintegrated upon impact.

There were no survivors. Both planes had disintegrated and very few remains were ever recovered from either crash site.

The image above shows a fragment from United Flight 718 found on Chuar Butte. If you look closely, you'll see the lettering "DC-7 Mainliner."

The Citizen's Cemetery in Flagstaff contains a memorial for the recovered remains of the TWA passengers who perished during the crash.

There are remains of 67 passengers from aboard the TWA flight interred in this mass grave in Flagstaff. The recovered remains of twenty-nine unidentified passengers from aboard the United flight were buried in just four coffins at the Grand Canyon Pioneer Cemetery located in Coconino County, Arizona.

This horrific 1956 event in the skies over Arizona sparked an overhaul of the way airplane traffic is controlled and monitored in the U.S. Do you remember this tragic event in Arizona history?

The 1956 incident is among the most tragic disasters ever to occur in Arizona. Read about the other four in this previous article.