50th anniversary 2012

Well folks, for those that will be going to the 50th anniversary commemoration next year for Flight 11 I am delighted to say I shall be meeting with you as I will be making the 7,900mile flight to the area all that way from Auckland.

I look forward to meeting as many people as possible and to see the memorial first hand.

The first-ever sabotage of a passenger plane

It is known that Flight 11 was the first-ever sabotage of a commercial jet airliner in the United States of America. Interestingly enough I have come across the details of what is believed to be the first-ever sabotage of a passenger aircraft anywhere in the world. For those who are interested here is the small link to the wikipedia article. Makes for an interesting read. And oddly enough, despite its significance, it too has never had a memorial. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_crash_near_Chesterton

Also, just to stop press, a link to the 1933 newspaper article from the Citizen Advertiser newspaper in New York:

http://fultonhistory.com/newspaper%202/Auburn%20NY%20Citizen%20Advertiser/Auburn%20NY%20Citizen%20Advertiser%201933.pdf/Newspaper%20Auburn%20NY%20Citizen%20Advertiser%201933%20-%200105.PDF

A fascinating story...

This was emailed to me by Tim Duley who's father worked at Continental the night that Flight 11 took off from Chicago. The contents of that email tell a remarkable story of that evening and of what is likely the last person to see anyone from CO11 alive. It is as follows...

My name is Tim Duley.  I just visited your blog for Continental Airlines Flight 11.  I am a pilot for jetBlue Airways.  My father, Tom Duley, worked the ticket counter and gates (mostly gates) for Continental Airlines for 23 years.  He had mentioned Continental Flight 11 to me numerous times.  My father was the gate agent working Continental Flight 11.  Here are the details he had told me - hopefully everything I write is accurate.  

A man (Thomas Doty) bought an insurance policy for a million dollars from one of the insurance counters in the terminal.  In those days there was no airport security.  It was like a bus terminal - just walk through to the gates and board your flight.  My father told me that this flight was instrumental in airport security checkpoints.  He also told me that normally the insurance counter would have called the gate to tell him that a passenger (naming the passenger) had just bought a large insurance policy.  My father stated that with that information they would not have allowed the passenger to board.  But for some reason, the insurance counter did not call the gate to report this individual that night.  The passenger (Thomas Doty) and his secretary(possibly girlfriend) arrived to the gate after they had already closed the flight and pulled the airstairs (no jetbridges in those days).  But in those days customer service was very important (I dont know if they tracked on time performace back then which may explain why they boarded him after the aircraft door was already closed).  So my dad had the airstairs pulled back up to the Boeing 707 (may have actually been a Boeing 720?) and Thomas Doty boarded.  My dad mentioned the Captain and told me he was a great pilot, very friendly, a nice gentleman, and my dad had great respect for him.  My dad also told me that the forward flight attendant gave my dad a cup of coffee and said "have a good night Tom!" just before he closed the forward door once again.  He was the last person on the ground to speak personally to the crew.  They later found her dead dangling in a tree after the crash.  My father told me that it was later discovered that the passenger he held the flight for named his wife in the insurance policy, that he had a bomb in his briefcase, and that he set it off in the aft lavatory.  He also told me that the original movie Airport was based on Continental Flight 11, however the outcome of CAL flt 11 was much more tragic.  I think that this flight weighed heavily on my dad for the rest of his life.  My father married my mother who was a Continental flight attendant and former Registered Nurse.  Back then my mother and all flight attendants were forced to quit if they became married or pregnant.  So my mother went back to nursing.  My fathers career took us to LAX where he became a DPS (Director of Passenger Service) agent, then to SAT (San Antonio) where he became a ticket counter supervisor, then to DEN where he worked as a gate agent until his career was ended by Frank Lorenzo.  My father passed away in October 2003.  

This is what I remember from what my father told me about Continental Flight 11.  I apologize if any part of it is inaccurate.  I wish my father was still alive to see the great work you have been doing for the memory of Continental Airlines Flight 11.  Please contact me if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.
Sincerely

Tim Duley       

49 Years Ago

I write this on the eve of the 49th anniversary of that horrendous night when a hand of evil took away your loved ones and changed things forever for you. Since my blog and the determined efforts of Mr Crawford, and the community of Unionville, we finally have a memorial, a marker for what happened, a marker that we will not forget those who were lost that night, and nor will anybody else.

My thoughts and prayers are with all those involved in, and affected by, that awful day 49 years ago over Missouri.

New look for blog

Well folks I've freshened the look of the blog a bit and updated the graphics and such to make it a bit less generic. Hope you all approve; I think the colours are the most suitable from the choice of templates to represent the Continental colorscheme of the day although I wish Blogger had a gold template...I'll see what they bring out over time. 

We've come a LONG way

Well guys I know I'm far too neglectful of this blog and have far too little input from myself, but I'd just like to say we have come so far since this blog was started.

I am thrilled that last year we had the memorial and that we've connected so many of the families of loved ones aboard Continental Flight 11 together to create a new family.

I watched the memorial on DVD with pride and knew that I'd accomplished what I'd set out to do by bringing this issue back to life and through Mr Crawford, the help and local support to bring about the memorial.