United Airlines Flight 409 crashed into a mountain peak today, killing all 66 people aboard. In 1955, it was the worst commercial aviation disaster in US history.
"Treacherous air currents caused by the high winds provided great turbulence in the vicinity of the peak shortly before noon Thursday when the missing plane's wreckage first was sighted by a Wyoming Air National Guard jet fighter. The turbulence presumably prevailed at the time of the crash earlier Thursday morning," reported the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern reported on October 7, 1955.
NOTE: The plane, which took off from Denver, was scheduled to arrive in Salt Lake City, Utah. It had only one empty seat when the plane went down.
Links to the Past
66 Die When Airliner Hit Peak in Wyoming
Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, October 7, 1955
Climbers Battle to Retrieve Bodies of 66 Plane Victims
The Lowell Sun, October 7, 1955
66 Die in Airliner Crash
The Charleston Gazette, October 7, 1955
Wreckage Scene Described By Stunned Eyewitnesses
The Charleston Gazette, October 7, 1955
Hillsborough Mother of 3 Among 66 Airliner Victims
San Mateo Times, October 7, 1955
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Links to the Past
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