Civil Aeronautics Board Accident Report of 1962

For those who are interested here is the link to the 1962 Civil Aeronautics Board Aircraft Accident Report for Flight 11. Some may find it an interesting read. It's the document that sparked this blog and everything else off.

Go to this link and select "1962" then select the FIRST "CONTINENTAL AIRLINES" link. It will open up a page with a link to the PDF file containing the report. 

Flight 11 Aircraft Accident Report

It only works with Internet Explorer or Firefox apparently. Not Google Chrome.

Flight 11 Kansas-Los Angeles sector

One small "mystery" about Flight 11 is the passengers who were waiting at Kansas City to fly to Los Angeles; obviously with the non-arrival of Flight 11 from Chicago there was no plane to take passengers waiting at Kansas City onward to Los Angeles. I'm assuming they would have been told the flight was cancelled and then returned home or to hotels to await flights the next day. They certainly may have suspected something was amiss with the reaction of waiting relatives at Kansas City...and no doubt the press may have turned up at Kansas City Airport later that evening when reports of Flight 11 being missing were coming in.

At any rate it must have been unusual for those onward waiting passengers bound for LAX to read about the crash in the following days and realize they were meant to be booked on Flight 11s second-leg of that evening.

Ann Berry

A gentleman from California has come forward, via Duane Crawford, to inform us that his wife was meant to work on Flight 11 as a stewardess but her inbound flight was delayed due to a mechanical issue. Ann Berry stepped in as the "standby" crew member. The wife of the gentleman has long remembered and been affected by the death of Ann Berry (her best friend at the time) and the fate of CO11 that evening.

An extremely interesting story and one of those "what could have been/what if" scenarios.

50th Anniversary of Continental Airlines Flight 11 - Important Information

For interested readers of this website, my name is Duane Crawford from Unionville, Missouri, the place where Continental Airlines Flight 11 was sabotaged and destroyed on May 22, 1962.  All 37 passengers and 8 crew members were killed in the crash.

    At 11:00 a.m., on May 26, 2012, a 50th Anniversary Remembrance Service will be held in Unionville to honor the innocent victims of the terrible tragedy.  A good number of the families plan to attend, but the highlight of the event is Andrew Russell's presence here in Unionville.  He will be the main speaker.

   

    Andrew, a young New Zealand college student, inspired our local citizens to build and dedicate a beautiful Flight 11 Memorial in 2010.  His round trip fare and accommodations are being paid for by the generous donations of families and local citizens.

    Much has been written about Flight 11 and the families.  I can be contacted at crawford@nemr.net.  The service is open to the public.

  Duane Crawford

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.

KTVO Article

A local station in the Kirksville area called KTVO has run an article on their web-site along with a short documentary on November 27th about the crash of CO11. I haven't seen the doco but am told by a local historian that it was excellent. The print-article can be found here: 

http://www.heartlandconnection.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=228249

It just goes to show that with all the recent activity sparked by myself and Mr Duane Crawford, 

a local Unionville historian whom I have contacted and am in correspondence with, 

that CO11 has been resurrected from the dusty archives of history and is finally 

starting to receive the recognition that is due. Hopefully more will follow on this 

as the months go by as I think (finally) we have the ball rolling for a memorial. 

There is a push at present for one to be erected by the Putnam County 

Historical Society. Mr Duane Crawford, local historian, has already donated 

money toward this memorial at a recent meeting of the historical society. A 

very noble gesture to this not so forgotten (now) tragedy.

KOMU article.

Okay well here is a fascinating article on KOMU.com about the crash and also about the efforts (current efforts) to place a memorial in or around the crash site:

http://www.komu.com/satellite/SatelliteRender/KOMU.com/ba8a4513-c0a8-2f11-0063-9bd94c70b769/750feef0-80ce-0971-004b-b926cdbaf146

Apparently a Duane Crawford has been doing the same as me - researching this tragedy and most importantly...not forgetting CO11 and its victims.

Appanoose County Historical Society

According to an article in the Daily Iowegian Newspaper, the Appanoose County Historical Society will be running an exhibit dedicated Continental Air Lines Flight 11. What the exhibit will contain is not mentioned. It does say that it will "tell the story" of the mid-air bombing of the Boeing 707. Perhaps some artefacts? Who knows...here's the link to the Iowegian story:

http://www.dailyiowegian.com/local/local_story_354123728.html

and the link to the Appanoose County Historical Society:

http://rootsweb.com/~iaachs2/

Photo of Crashed fuselage of CO Flight 11

Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashed on May 22nd 1962; this photo was taken the day after the crash when the wreckage was actually discovered in a muddy field just outside of Unionville, Missouri.

Link to Wikipedia Article on CO Flight 11

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Airlines_Flight_11

Continental Air Lines Flight 11

Hi all.
Well never having blogged before I apologize in advance for any mistakes or waffling that you may find here.

Basically I'm a 23 year old in Auckland, New Zealand. I'm also an aviation enthusiast. I happened to come across the tragedy of Continental Air Lines Flight 11 one day when scanning the aviation safety network site. After checking out many of the facts of the crash I often wondered why there wasn't more about it. I am also shocked to find no memorial in the vicinity of the crash. It seems that so much time has moved on that there is nothing on the web from anyone who remembers the crash or from anyone who lost someone on the flight.

After all it was the very first sabotage of a commercial jet airliner in the world. The plane, a 1959 Boeing 707-124 (N70775) was carrying 45 passengers and crew (37 passengers and 8 crew). A scheduled flight, CO 11 left Chicago's O'Hare International Airport just after 8:30pm on the night of May 22nd 1962 bound for Los Angeles with an intermediate stop at Kansas City Downtown Airport.

A bomb, placed by Thomas G. Doty in the lavatory exploded at sometime between 9:17 and 9:22pm and the aircraft suffered a rapid decompression and descent. The pilots donned their masks and begun a controlled descent to safe altitude. The tail of the plane separated however, and the forward section and main fuselage went plummeting to the ground, tearing off the four powerful engines with the sheer force of the descent.

Wreckage rained down from south of Cincinnati to Unionville, Missouri where the major sections of the aircraft crashed. One passenger managed to survive that terrible night but died early the next morning from his injuries. He was 27 year old Takehiko Nakano, an engineer from Illinois.

HARDLY ANYTHING is available on the net regarding this crash and the families of the victims that were on-board. There is nothing on Thomas G. Doty either. He had a five-year old daughter and was married. That's that. It seems he had become depressed, taken out excessive life insurance then boarded the flight. The bomb detonated indicating that at some stage during the flight or perhaps even before take-off, Doty had visited the lavatory to place the bomb inside one of the wast-towel bins.

What I find amazing is that forty-five years after the crash and there appears to be no memorial in the area for it. Unionville, Missouri is isolated and sparsely populated. I often wonder if the aircraft had come down in Cincinnati would more have survived? Indeed the plane was not reached for hours after it crashed because of confusion as to where it's specific resting place was.

I often wonder what it would have been like back in 1962 for the families and friends waiting for loved ones to come off that flight; the thought that they had been blown out of the sky must have been awful, and in such a lonely spot of Missouri, right in the middle of the USA. We try to forget plane crashes, but 45 years on there must be relatives of those who died who are still grieving from what happened all those years ago. Many may have moved on. Indeed history seems to have passed them by entirely. The scarcity of information is testament to this. No one has ever come out and said "My dad/mother/wife/son/daughter was on that plane all those years ago". Searches through the archives of "The Daily Iowegian" reveal little except for articles published in the days following the crash. More recent articles by the same newspaper have been full of inaccurate information. 45 years on and CO Flight 11 must be fresh to someone...you can never fully forget the circumstances of someone's death, particularly when it was so tragic, sudden and lonely as this was.

At the time it was thought a violent storm had brought the aircraft down. The weather in the area on the night of the crash was poor with tornadoes and thunderstorms predicted. Flight 11 had requested route deviations to vector around the storm shortly before the explosion and subsequent crash.

My blog here is simply to state two things: Why is there no memorial? and Why so little information on what seems to be such a tragic (and historical) crash?

The Accident Report is rather sad to read. The crew seems to have done all they could when the explosion happened; many of the passengers were important businessmen and the cabin crew were all very young. The plane itself was a pioneering jet-liner that ushered in the age of jet travel and back in 1962, a 707 would have been the very pinnacle of luxury, comfort and technology.

We will never know what went on in the cabin that evening, what was served, what was said and done but we do know that innocent lives were lost and a flagship aircraft for Continental Airlines was deliberately destroyed.

Whether or not Doty's widow was ever hounded after the crash is also not known. Indeed there seems to be no record in newspapers from anywhere in the USA regarding the finding and naming of Doty as the culprit after the investigation into the crash.

May those passengers and crew rest in peace. 45 years is a long time. They are gone but hopefully not forgotten.

If anyone has any further information regarding Continental Airlines Flight 11 please contact me: dhcomet@gmail.com or simply blog me. I know it may seem odd that I have such an interest in such an old tragedy but my point-of-view comes from an aviation historical background and also one of sheer disbelief that none of the souls on board seem to be recognized or remembered in a memorial in the area.

As an update...MANY friends and family of victims have contacted me recently with information regarding CO11. It has been such a pleasure to deal with all of you and to hear your often harrowing recount of 1962. Recent developments to the NOT-forgotten CO11 crash include a push by locals for a memorial in the area. There are now more people involved than ever before in reviving the memory of this historical air crash.