1930 — Jan 19, Transcontinental Air Transport engine trouble emer. lndg. crash, Oceanside CA–16

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 1-31-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–16  Aviation Safety Network. Database 1930. Maddux Airlines Trimotor, Oceanside CA Jan 19

–16  Eckert. “Fatal commercial air transport crashes, 1924-1981.” AJFMP, 3/1, March 1982, Table 1.

–16  Haine, Edgar A. Disaster in the Air. New York: Cornwall Books, 2000, p. 292.

–16  Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1930s.”

–16  Oakland Tribune (CA).  “Rain Blamed for 16 Deaths In Air Crash,” Jan 20, 1930, p. 1.

Narrative Information

Notable California Aviation Disasters:

“Date / Time: Sunday, January 19, 1930 / 6:23 p.m.

Operator / Flight No.: TAT-Maddux Air Lines / Flight No. 7

Location: Near Oceanside, Calif.

Fatalities: 16 — all 14 passengers and 2 crew members.

 

Details and Probable Cause:  Among the 14 passengers boarding the TAT (Transcontinental Air Transport)-Maddux Air Lines aircraft, a Ford 5-AT-C Tri-Motor (NC9689), were those who had enjoyed a day of races at the Aqua Caliente Racetrack near Tijuana, Mexico.  Designated the “Race Special,” the plane departed Aqua Caliente at 5:50 p.m. for its flight north to the Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale.

 

“The Ford Tri-Motor subsequently experienced engine trouble while flying in rain, low clouds and fog along the California coast north of Oceanside and south of San Clemente. The two pilots decided to make an emergency landing in an open bean field on the coastal plain but misjudged the aircraft’s height in the poor weather conditions and the airplane’s left wing struck the ground. The Tri-Motor then slammed to earth, slid 200 feet and burst into flames.

 

“All 14 passengers and both pilots were killed in the fiery crash….  

 

“The airline involved in the crash was the result of a merger between Transcontinental Air Transport and Los Angeles-based Maddux Airlines.  Later, TAT-Maddux would also absorb most of Western Air Express and be renamed Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA).  Still later, in 1950, while under the leadership of multimillionaire Howard Hughes, Transcontinental & Western Air would change its name again, to Trans World Airlines — thus retaining its previously established “TWA” identity and logo….”  (Notable CA Aviation Disasters. 1930s.)

 

Newspaper

 

Jan 20, Associated Press: “LOS ANGELES, Jan. 20.—(AP)–T. A. T.-Maddux Airlines officials today ascribed the crash last night of their Agua Caliente “race special” tri-motored Ford monoplane, which killed 16 persons in its wreckage after dark half way between here and San Diego, to ‘one of those peculiar weather mysteries which blew in rain from the Pacific in the particular area’ of the scene. 

 

“F. F. Preeg. flight superintendent at the Glendale terminal of the lines, said that the pilot of the ill-fated plane apparently was blinded by the rain and fog-murk which hovered about the Oceanside and San Clemente bluffs. He said it was apparent that an emergency landing was being sought on account of the flying conditions, and discounted eye-witness reports of missing motors.  Preeg said that the lines’ weather stations at Point Lomo, San Diego, and Point Dana, San Clemente. reported a ceiling of 1500 feet, which he indicated was ample justification for the scheduled trip being made.

 

“Motorists on the coast highway, within half a mile of which the giant craft plunged into a plowed field, hurling eight women and eight men passengers and pilots to a flaming, gasoline-fired death, told of having heard motors missing as they saw the monoplane creeping beneath a 200-foot fog ceiling.  Other observers, who reported that the piano circled about over Oceanside, 14 miles south of the scene of the crash, shortly before it was wrecked, stated they heard troublesome motors barking…

 

“Explanation of these reports was given by the T. A. T. official in expressing the theory that the layman docs not accurately know the sound of properly-working airplane motors, especially on a

three-motored plane in which all the engines may not be synchronized perfectly. The flight superintendent also declared that the capacity-loaded passenger plane was capable of being maneuvered if only one motor had been misfunctioning.

 

“The official description of the crash was that, seeking a forced landing place, [the] pilots…were blinded by the mist and the craft’s wingtip raked the sloping hillside before they saw the  proximity of land.  The wing tore loose…hurling the craft about, over on its back, and burst open the wing gasoline tank. This resulted in an immediate explosion, which poured flaming death over the…passengers….

 

“The plane, one of the latest all-metal, tri-motored ships to ply the T. A. T. Maddux airways, which earlier in the day had flown to Agua Caliente laden with joyous week-end sight-seers in quest of pleasure in the Lower California resort, took off for the return trip to Los Angeles at 5:30 p. m…. An hour later, the great ship was a twisted mass of red-hot steel in a muddy field on the Santa Margarita ranch between Oceanside and San Clemente.”  (Oakland Tribune (CA).  “Rain Blamed for 16 Deaths In Air Crash,” January 20, 1930, p. 1)

Sources

                                                                                   

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation. Database “1930.” Maddux Airlines Ford Trimotor, Oceanside, CA, January 19, 1930. Accessed 1-31-2025 at: https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/342511

 

Eckert, William G. “Fatal commercial air transport crashes, 1924-1981.” American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, Vol. 3, No. 1, March 1982, Table 1.

 

Haine, Edgar A. Disaster in the Air. New York: Cornwall Books, 2000, 394 pages.

 

Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1930s.” Oct 23, 2008 update. Accessed 2-21-2009 at: http://www.jaydeebee1.com/crash30s.html  (No longer operable.)

 

Oakland Tribune, CA. “Rain Blamed for 16 Deaths In Air Crash.” 1-20-1930, p. 1. Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=31606696