1957 — Jan 31, DC-7 and USAF Scorpion fighter collide, debris hits school, Sunland, CA–8

— 8 Baugher. 1952 USAF Serial Numbers. 10-29-2011 revision.
–all 4 aboard Douglas DC-7B
— 3 school students in school from DC-7 debris
–1 of 2 in F-89
— 8 Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1950s.”
–all 4 aboard Douglas DC-7B
— 3 school students in school from DC-7 debris
–1 of 2 in F-89
— 8 Sturkey. Mid-Air: Accident Reports and Voice Transcripts from…Mid-Air Collisions. 2008, p.67.
–all 4 aboard Douglas DC-7
— 3 on-ground in school from Douglas DC-7 debris
–1 of 2 aboard USAF Northrop F-89 Scorpion

Narrative Information

Baugher: “Northrop F-89D-40-NO Scorpion 1870 (c/n 4447) converted to F-89J. Collided on a test flight with Douglas owned and operated DC-7B N8210H over Sunland, CA Jan 31, 1957. The wreckage of the DC-7 crashed into a school killing 3 students, injuring 70 others in addition to killing the 4 crew. The F-89 pilot was killed while the radar operator, severely injured, parachuted to safety.

“The was the first N8210H DC-7B (c/n 45192/764) for Douglas Aircraft Company. Douglas Aircraft Company acquired the second N8210H, another DC-7B (c/n 45194/787) built for Continental Air Lines on Mar 26, 1957.

“Believe that this was the crash that gave rock star Ritchie Valens his fear of flying. Ritchie attended that school but was not at school that day because he was attending his grandfather’s funeral. Ritchie had only just gotten over his fear of flying when the plane carrying him, Buddy Holly, J. P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) and pilot Roger Peterson crashed in Iowa on February 3, 1959, killing all four onboard.” (Baugher. 1952 USAF Serial Numbers. 10-29-2011 revision.)

Notable California Aviation Disasters:

“Date / Time: Thursday, January 31, 1957 / 11:18 a.m.

”Operator / Flight No.: Douglas Aircraft Company / Non-Commercial Test Flight

”Location: Near Sunland, Calif.

“Details and Probable Cause: Midair collision. A crew of four was aboard the four-engine Douglas DC-7B aircraft (N8210H) as it departed Santa Monica Municipal Airport at 10:15 a.m. on the first functional test flight of the brand-new airliner prior to its eventual delivery to Continental Airlines.

“Co-pilot for the routine Douglas Aircraft Co. test flight was veteran flier Archie R. Twitchell, 50, who enjoyed a secondary career as an actor between flying stints and appeared in over 100 films, including Union Pacific, I Wanted Wings, Among the Living, Out of the Past, Fort Apache, I Shot Billy The Kid and Sunset Boulevard, among many others. The remaining DC-7B crew consisted of pilot William G. Carr, 36; flight engineer Waldo B. Adams, 42; and radio operator Roy T. Nakazawa, 28.

“Following normal procedures for company test flights, the DC-7B, once airborne, switched over to the Douglas Aircraft Co. radio frequency and made periodic progress reports. At 10:30 a.m. the crew reported that they were out over the Pacific Ocean at the Catalina intersection ‘at 9,000 feet’ and, by 11:06 a.m., the aircraft was inland over Ontario at 25,000 feet and all was ‘routine.’ The airliner then made a westbound turn to a heading that would bring it back toward Los Angeles along the San Gabriel Mountains.

“That same morning, in Palmdale to the north, a two-man U.S. Air Force Northrop F-89J Scorpion jet fighter (52-1870A) took off at 10:50 a.m. on a similar test flight, following a contracted overhaul performed on the military jet by Northrop. A second Air Force F-89J fighter (53-2516A) took off at the same time, with the two Scorpion aircraft scheduled to perform a series of simulated ‘interceptor attacks’ on one another in a procedure that would check the operation of the jets’ on-board radar equipment. Both F-89s were manned by two-man crews employed by Northrop.

“By 11:15 a.m. all three aircraft were at an altitude of 25,000 feet in clear skies over the San Fernando Valley when, at about 11:18 a.m., a high-speed, near-head-on midair collision occurred between the Douglas DC-7B and F-89J Scorpion #52-1870A. Investigators later determined that the two aircraft converged at a point in the sky approximately one to two miles northeast of the Hansen Dam spillway. The F-89J Scorpion jet, having just completed a 90-degree turn, sliced through the outer left wing of the Douglas DC-7B airliner.

“Immediately following the collision, Curtiss Adams, the radarman aboard the eastbound twin-engine F-89J Scorpion, was able to eject from the stricken fighter jet and, despite incurring serious burns, parachuted to a landing in Burbank. The fighter jet’s pilot, Roland E. Owen, died when the aircraft plummeted in flames into La Tuna Canyon in the Verdugo Mountains.

“The last reported message from the fatally crippled westbound DC-7B airliner was from co-pilot Archie Twitchell, who radioed, ‘Mid-air collision! Mid-air collision! Ten-How (the plane’s radio designation) . . . We’re going in . . . uncontrollable . . . uncontrollable . . . we are . . . we’ve had it, boy . . . poor jet, too . . . told you we should take [para]chutes . . . Say good-bye to everybody.’

“With a portion of its left wing now gone and while raining debris onto the neighborhoods below, the DC-7B momentarily continued westbound, then rolled to the left and began a steepening, high-velocity dive earthward. The aircraft broke up at about 500 to 1,000 feet above the ground and seconds later the hurtling wreckage slammed into the courtyard of the Pacoima Congregational Church near the corner of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Terra Bella Street, killing all four crew members on board.

“Upon impact, the remains of the shattered DC-7B exploded into hundreds of flaming pieces that slashed across the adjacent playground of Pacoima Junior High School, where some 220 boys were just ending their outdoor athletics activities. Ronnie Brann, 13, and Robert Zallan, 12, were struck and killed by the flying blast of metal and debris from the crashing airliner. A third gravely injured student, Evan Elsner, 12, died two days later in a local hospital. An estimated 74 additional students on the playground suffered injuries ranging from minor to critical.

“The second F-89 Scorpion jet, being used as a radar ‘target’ by the first one during the equipment tests, was not involved in the collision and its two-man crew did not witness the accident.

“The collision was blamed on pilot error: Failure of both aircraft crews to exercise proper ‘see and avoid’ procedures regarding other aircraft while operating under visual flight rules (VFR).

“The catastrophe prompted the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to set restrictions on all aircraft test flights, both military and civilian, requiring that they be made over open water or specifically approved sparsely populated areas.

“The Pacoima crash is referenced in the 1987 film La Bamba, a biographical account of the life of veteran rock ’n’ roll singer Ritchie Valens. Valens was a 15-year-old student at Pacoima Junior High at the time of the disaster, but was away from the school campus, attending the funeral of his grandfather, on the day of the crash. Ironically, Valens, along with fellow musicians Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson), plus pilot Roger Peterson, would die just two years later in the crash of their chartered Beech Bonanza (N3794N) near Mason City, Iowa, in the early morning hours of February 3, 1959.

“Pacoima Junior High School underwent a name change, to Pacoima Middle School, in 1992. On January 31, 2007, on the 50th anniversary of the crash, the school held a memorial ceremony honoring those killed and injured in the disaster. Approximately 20 former students who were present at Pacoima Junior High at the time of the 1957 accident attended the event, at which time a symbolic tree was planted on the school’s athletic field. A plaque in memory of the victims is scheduled to be mounted at the base of the tree.

“Fatalities: 8 — 1 of 2 occupants of the F-89J Scorpion jet; all 4 crew members aboard the DC-7B airliner; and 3 junior high school students on the ground.” (Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1950s.”)
Sources

Baugher, Joseph F. 1952 USAF Serial Numbers. Oct 29, 2011 revision. Accessed 1-7-2012 at: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1952.html

Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1950s.” Oct 23 2008 update. Accessed at: http://www.jaydeebee1.com/crash50s.html

Sturkey, Marion F. Mid-Air: Accident Reports and Voice Transcripts from Military and Airline Mid-Air Collisions. Plum Branch, SC: Heritage Press International, 2008.