New Zealand Aviation News July 2012 Issue

The July 2012 issue of New Zealand Aviation News will feature my article detailing the 50th anniversary commemorations of Flight 11 in Unionville, Missouri.

The article also includes colour photographs.

Their website is: http://www.aviationnews.co.nz/

First fatal crash for Continental Airlines

I had it confirmed by Ralph Boester who I've been in contact with (he worked at Continental and was a check-in counter agent amongst many other things at Chicago the night of Flight 11) that the sabotage and crash of Flight 11 was Continental's first-ever fatal incident. Until then Continental hadn't lost a single soul due to a crash or otherwise.

Flight 11 once again has another "first" in terms of historical importance.

Jon Sperry

A gentleman by the name of Jon Sperry has contacted me and sent me some photos that his Uncle took of Flight 11 following the crash. His Uncle (who is unfortunately no longer with us) was a Kirksville, Missouri highway patrolman. It's not known when these photos were taken (see below post) but I thought it prudent to upload two of them that detail the telescoped forward section of the fuselage (around the point of the wings forward) and also detailing the crash site as seen from the track driving to it.

For the families of those who went to the crash site in May 2012 you will know what I'm talking about when you see the second photo below and the distinctive treeline that runs all the way down from where we stood to about just past where the nose section of the fuselage would have been. You can also detail the spot on the far left that includes a cluster of cars (where we all pulled up in our vehicles and former schoolbus) and to the mid-right of the treeline are lots of people standing around who would have come up from the other side of the track in the opposite direction from which we came. 

I decided to upload these two photos as I felt they did not depict anything that wasn't/couldn't be seen in the photos at the Appanoose Historical Museum or any of the recent media articles (Alan Zagier and Joanathan Bender articles) about the crash and memorial or indeed a basic Google search. 

I do not believe these photos will cause any offence but if they do to anyone please contact me immediately and I shall remove them.

I have taken the liberty of forwarding them onto Maribeth DeHaven at the Putnam County Historical Society for her records and for the records of the Historical Society so that they may be filed away for safekeeping to add to the Flight 11 collection there in Unionville.  

 

Photos from Jon Sperry

I have been trying to decide whether or not to upload a couple of photos sent to me by Mr Jon Sperry whose late Uncle was a highway patrolman based out of Kirksville, Missouri. His Uncle took the photos of the crash site of Flight 11 and Jon scanned them through to me a few days ago. They had been sitting in an attic on some old original slides.

I have now seen that other crash-site photos have emerged in the press with the Alan Zagier and Jonathan Bender articles so I think it prudent to place them up here as there is nothing here that can't be seen elsewhere. They are pretty "run of the mill" and what you can see elsewhere.  The photos detail the compacted nature of the forward fuselage around the wing-section (1) & secondly the fuselage in relation to the tree line at the crash site with rescue helicopter (painted bright orange and black) parked to the far right (2).

Many thanks to Jon Sperry for these precious and unique photos of N70775. We have no dates for these photos by the way and Jon's Uncle is no longer with us to confirm details. 

N70773 Sister Ship to N70775 (Flight 11) crash at Kansas City in 1965

On July 1st 1965 N70773, the sister aircraft to N70775 that operated Flight 11 was lost when it landed at Kansas City Downtown Airport in heavy rain and hydroplaned. It hit a blast mound at the end of the runway and ended up on airport perimeter road broken into three major pieces. Of the 66 passengers and crew aboard nobody died. However the Flight number was Flight 12 and it was operating the reverse of Flight 11 (i.e. Los Angeles-Kansas City-Chicago). This particular aircraft was delivered just before N70775 and was part of an original "batch" of Boeing 707-124s to end up at Continental.

N70775 Hijacking in El Paso, Texas in 1961

As many people know N70775 that operated Flight 11 had been hijacked the year prior and was badly damaged by FBI bullets in an attempt to stop it from being flown to Cuba as per the hijackers demands. Despite it ending well many of the hijacked passengers and crew were shaken up and not surprisingly there was a hefty bill for repair of the Boeing 707. It subsequently returned to service after Boeing and Continental engineers performed repair work. A number of bullets had pierced the fuselage and cabin floor and broken a window.

Here is a front page article sent to me by Jayne Specht from Oskaloosa. She is a wealth of knowledge on aviation matters during the 1960s as she worked in the industry. She also has many newspaper clippings and articles from the decade and she sent me this one. I have had to scan it through in two parts but it briefly outlines the hijacking (not the complete article I'm afraid) and also shows a picture of N70775 pre its tragic destruction less than  year later. Apologies for the poor quality in advance.

Duane Crawford's notes on Tom Duley, former Continental Airlines gate agent

This echoes a previous post on this blog which I shared with you all from Tim Duley. If you can recollect it was his father who was the gate agent at Chicago O'Hare Airport the night Flight 11 departed. He was the last person to see any of the passengers or crew alive on the ground (with the exception of those who saw Takehiko Nakano who of course died shortly after being pulled from the wreckage). This is another rendition of Tom Duley's account of that evening (Tom was Tim's father, Tim contacted me). It is taken from PC Happenings which is "Putnam County Happening" where Mr Duane Crawford resides and writes columns for the Unionville Republican Newspaper there in Missouri. It is as follows:

"In my last PC Happenings, I mentioned Tim Duley as being a pilot for Jet Blue Airways and coming to the Remembrance Service from California to represent his late father.  About a year ago he emailed this account of his father, Tom Duley, who was an employee for Continental Airlines for 23 years.  He wrote the following on June 13, 2011 to Tom Bolster, who was also on gate duty that night.  “Tom Duley worked the ticket counter and gates (mostly gates).  He mentioned Continental Flight 11 to me numerous times.  Here are the details.  A man (Thomas Doty) bought an insurance policy for a huge amount from one of the insurance counters in the terminal at O’Hara Airport in Chicago.

“In those days, there was no airport security.  It was like a bus terminal.  Passengers just walked to and through the gates and boarded their flights.  He told me that Flight 11’s tragedy was the reason for the increased airport security.

“He related that the insurance counters then would call the gate to tell him or other gate employees the name of the passenger buying a large insurance policy. He said that with that information they would not have allowed the passenger to board.  For some reason, the insurance counter did not call the gate that night.  The passengers (Thomas Doty and Geneva Fraley) arrived at the gate after they had already closed the flight and pulled the air-stairs (no jet-bridges in those days) away from the plane.

“But in those days, customer service was important, and though the aircraft doors were already closed, my father was required to move the air-stairs back to Flight 11 to let Doty and his friend aboard.

“Dad mentioned Captain Fred Gray many times, and he told me that he was a great pilot.  Also, he stated that after Doty was aboard the forward flight attendant gave him a cup of coffee and said, ‘Have a good night Tom!’  The door was then closed.  He was the last person to speak personally to a member of the crew.

“Dad said that the movie “Airport” was based on Flight 11; however, the real Flight 11 was a terrible tragedy.  This flight and Dad’s role weighed heavily on him for the rest of his life. 

“My father married my mother, a Continental flight attendant and former registered nurse (RN).  In those days flight attendants were forced to quit if they married or became pregnant.  She went back to nursing.

“Dad continued his career with continental and eventually became a ticket counter supervisor in Denver, Colorado.  He passed away in 2003.

“I wish my father was still alive to see the great work Unionville citizens have done to remember the crew and passengers of Flight 11.”

Ralph Boester also worked the gate at O’Hare Airport on May 22, 1962.  An employee with Hewlett-Packard, he has verified what Tom Duley had said.  He also added other interesting information, which I’ll describe at another time." 

Poem from a Denver Newspaper

The following is a poem written by Captain Richard S. Grigsby who flew for Continental Airlines at the time of the crash of Flight 11. Captain Grigsby wrote the poem and dedicated it to Captain Gray. The two were great friends apparently.

We're not sure what newspaper it came from specifically but it certainly is a Denver paper. A trillion thanks to Phyllis Jane Specht for sending this to me and bringing it to Duane's attention.

The poem is as follows:

I wrote the following poem for Capt. Fred Gray (pilot of the bombed Continental airliner) on the occasion of his 50th birthday. Would you print this as a eulogy for the finest pilot to ever take the controls of an airplane?

TOP O' CLIMB

The big jet starts to roll reluctantly,

For flight ahead is long and there is fuel

Which must be burdened, else

It cannot be.

That cunning will be victor in the duel

With Time and Space.

What power it takes to lift away from ground-

To blast such heavy burden into flight!

A thousand banshees couldn't wail the sound,

A thousand winged horses match the might of this great bird!

Her climb is rapid, now that speed is gained.

She flashes upward, forward, winning free;

But still the awful power must be sustained

To lift her into Nature's rarest sea

Far, in the sky.

At top o'climb, the battle all but won,

She settles down, her only labor just

To cruise a close companion to the sun.

Before she drops her power to "idle thrust",

Descends the other side.

RICHARD S. GRIGSBY

Capt. Continental Air Lines

Unionville, Missouri

I just want to say that my impressions of the town of Unionville, Missouri are etched into my memory forever. I only hope to return shortly to see it and its wonderful citizens again. In 1962 this town and its people reacted with dignity, tact and swiftness to do a grim task of not only identifying and examining those who died aboard Flight 11 but also offered lodgings, hospitality and local knowledge to those who came to investigate the crash and the criminal side to it. There was a thankless task performed by high school students too; body recovery. Something that you wouldn't dream of placing on young men today was placed upon those boys over fifty years ago.

I remember walking into the Hyvee Store in Unionville and speaking to a young man there called Gus Richardson whose mouth dropped open when he heard my New Zealand accent (it must have sounded alien I'm sure to this young man); we talked briefly. I had a strange feeling that this young man, a citizen of Unionville, would no doubt react in the same way his ancestors had if Flight 11 happened all over again tomorrow. That's the kind of people Unionville has from what I saw...plain decent folk.

At any rate a really memorable town that I'm sure hasn't changed a heck of a lot since those dark days of May 1962. 

Pale Moon Restaurant, Centerville, Iowa - "Mr Six sat there"

A lady at the Pale Moon Restaurant who I believe owns or co-owns or once owned this establishment just outside of Centerville, Iowa was kind enough to pull me aside during the Friday evening that we dined there (myself with the Crawford's and several families) and point out that Mr Robert F. Six, President and CEO of Continental Airlines had dined at the restaurant FIFTY years ago following the crash of Flight 11. In fact the Pale Moon had to open its doors on a Sunday to accommodate a vast array of FBI, Crash investigators AND Continental Airlines executives who wanted hot cooked meals and a beer or two. I was utterly stunned to learn that the restaurant we were dining at had served those kind of people and was now, 50 years later, serving the relatives of those who had died in that crash. Absolutely astounding information.

Robert F. Six was in Paris, France when he heard of the crash of Flight 11. He and wife Audrey Meadows immediately headed to Unionville to be at the scene of the crash and to assist in any way possible. Captain Gray was one of Robert Six's favourite and longest-serving pilots. It was rumoured that Mr Six has travelled to the crash site just to see that Captain Gray wasn't blamed for the disaster in any way.

In fact Mr Six was often bugged by Flight 11 for many years after it happened; Continental was like a big family back in 1962 and it was a sudden and awful loss for all who worked for the airline.