1952 Moses Lake C-124 crash
The 1952 Moses Lake C-124 crash was an accident in which a United States Air Force Douglas C-124 Globemaster II military transport aircraft crashed near Moses Lake, Washington on December 20, 1952. Of the 115 people on board, 87 died and 28 survived. The crash was the world's deadliest aviation disaster at the time, surpassing the Llandow air disaster, which killed 80 people. The death toll would not be surpassed until the Tachikawa air disaster, which also involved a Douglas C-124A-DL Globemaster II, killed 129 people.
Accident
The flight was part of "Operation: Sleigh Ride", a USAF airlift program to bring U.S. servicemen fighting in the Korean War home for Christmas. At around 18:30 PST, the C-124 lifted off from Larson Air Force Base near Moses Lake, Washington en route to Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. Just seconds after taking off, the left wing struck the ground and the aircraft cartwheeled, broke up, and exploded, killing 82 of the 105 passengers and 5 of the 10 crew members. Investigation into the accident revealed that the aircraft's elevator and rudder gust locks had not been disengaged prior to departure.[1][2]
At the time it occurred, the Moses Lake crash was the deadliest accident in U.S. territory until a United Airlines DC-7 and a TWA L-1049 Super Constellation collided over the Grand Canyon in 1956, killing 128. The crash also remains the deadliest aviation accident to occur in Washington state.
See also
- Tachikawa air disaster, the next and worst air accident involving a C-124, which happened just six months after the Moses Lake crash.
- Arrow Air Flight 1285, another aircraft bringing U.S. servicemen home for Christmas which crashed in 1985.
References
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- Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 307 (March 1950)
- Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501 (June 1950)
- Fairfield-Suisun Boeing B-29 crash (August 1950)
- National Airlines Flight 83 (January 1951)
- Cubana de Aviación Flight 493 (April 1951)
- United Air Lines Flight 610 (June 1951)
- United Air Lines Flight 615 (August 1951)
- Miami Airlines C-46 crash (December 16 1951)
- Continental Charters Flight 44-2 (December 29 1951)
- American Airlines Flight 6780 (January 1952)
- National Airlines Flight 101 (February 1952)
- Pan Am Flight 526A (April 1952)
- American Airlines Flight 910 (June 1952)
- Mount Gannett C-124 crash (November 1952)*
- Moses Lake C-124 crash (December 1952)
- National Airlines Flight 470 (February 1953)
- Delta Air Lines Flight 318 (May 1953)
- USMC R4Q NROTC crash (July 1953)
- American Airlines Flight 723 (September 1953)
- BCPA Flight 304 (October 1953)
- Cincinnati mid-air collision (January 1955)
- TWA Flight 260 (February 1955)
- American Airlines Flight 711 (March 20 1955)
- Hawaii R6D-1 crash (March 22 1955)*
- Pan Am Flight 845/26 (March 26 1955)
- MacArthur Airport United Airlines crash (April 1955)
- American Airlines Flight 476 (August 1955)
- United Air Lines Flight 409 (October 1955)
- United Air Lines Flight 629 (November 1955)
- TWA Flight 400 (April 1 1956)
- Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2 (April 2 1956)
- Grand Canyon mid-air collision (June 1956)
- Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 304 (July 9 1956)
- United States Air Force Flight 441/13 (July 13 1956)
- Pacoima mid-air collision (January 1957)
- Northeast Airlines Flight 823 (February 1957)
- Northeast Airlines Flight 285 (September 1957)
- Capital Airlines Flight 67 (April 1958)
- Capital Airlines Flight 300 (May 1958)
- Westover Air Force Base KC-135 crash (June 1958)
- Northeast Airlines Flight 258 (August 1958)
- Southeast Airlines Flight 308 (January 1959)
- The Day the Music Died (February 3 1959)
- American Airlines Flight 320 (February 3 1959)
- Capital Airlines Flight 75 (May 1959)
- American Airlines Flight 514 (August 1959)
- Braniff International Airways Flight 542 (September 1959)
- Piedmont Airlines Flight 349 (October 1959)
- National Airlines Flight 967 (November 1959)
- Allegheny Airlines Flight 371 (December 1 1959)
- San Diego F3H crash (December 4 1959)
An asterisk (*) denotes an incident that took place in a U.S. territory.