NATIONAL AIRLINES, INC., DOUGLAS DC-7B, N4891C This position is six miles south and about five miles east of the radar-observed descent. After not hearing from Taylor for a few days, and discovering he had not showed up for work, Alice became worried. On the night of November 15, 1959, a DC-7 with forty-two persons aboard took off from Tampa International Airport on a regularly scheduled flight to New Orleans. The last radio contact with the flight was at 12:44 AM, when the flight contacted company radio in New Orleans. Note that the whereabouts of DB Cooper on these dates is unaccounted for. The National crew consisted of Captain Frank Eugene Todd, Copilot Dick . He reported a "smooth flight" and unlimited visibility, but said he could see a solid overcast of fog ahead. ASSURANCE sailed on November 19, 1959, for position 3907'N - 8833'W relieving the Coast Guard Cutter NIKE, which had been standing by. The FBI's FOIA Library contains many files of public interest and historical value. Nothing. She had never liked Spears. As Logan points out, in the first three weeks of 1960 alone there had been four major airline crashes. The former Mrs Taylor was becoming increasingly frantic. Sun 4/9. ", Tampa International Airport, FL (TPA/KTPA), New Orleans International Airport, LA (MSY/KMSY), Accident investigation report completed and information captured, 57 km (35.6 mls) E off Pilottown, LA [Gulf of Mexico] (. Frank E. Todd of Miami, the pilot, radioed his last message at 12:44a.m. One passenger, William Taylor, had boarded the flight using a ticket issued to Robert Vernon Spears, a convicted criminal working at the time as a naturopath. There is little or no physical evidence upon which to explain this accident. According to this new story, in November 1959 Spears was extremely worried about the upcoming abortion trial in Los Angeles. November 5 After suffering an in-flight engine fire, the second North American X-15 (AF 56-6671), piloted by Scott Crossfield, breaks its Back making an emergency landing on Rosamond Dry Lake, California. Dr Spears lived in an affluent suburb of Dallas, and he and his wife were relatively well-known in the citys social circles. The second radar station at Houma, Louisiana, picked up the flight at 0046, on track and at 14,000feet altitude. Massey. Spears had been a close friend of her husband, and she had never considered him to be a good influence. Spears had a long history of crime, having been arrested 17 times under 14 different aliases. (These bearings could be duplicated at low altitude; the VOR bearings could not be, due to line-of-sight limitations.). Air Route Traffic Control cleared Flight967 over the established route across the Gulf from Tampa to New Orleans at 14,000feet altitude. Save your money with discount and promotions and find the best deals on Trip.com! Logan points out that much of the public demonization of Spears resulted from the fact that he performed abortions--something that is viewed very differently in todays political discourse. American Airlines Flight 320 was a scheduled flight between Chicago Midway International Airport and New York City's LaGuardia Airport.On February 3, 1959, the Lockheed L-188 Electra performing the flight crashed into the East River during its descent and approach to LaGuardia Airport, killing 65 of the 73 people on board. The Coast Guard favored the former explanation, while the Air Force favored the latter. And just a freak coincidence that a couple of conmen just happened to have a ticket? By all accounts, he was in financial difficulties, and had many debts. Pertinent details are: William Allen Taylor, of Tampa, Florida, disappeared November 15, 1959, after telephoning his employer he would be late for work. Spears said: If the business did detonate during the flight, it had to be by accident [] Im still of the opinion that the plane--something else happened to it. GADSS-compliant global tracking and alerting for airlines and aircraft operators. Feb 2023 - Present2 months. The radar observer testified that this disappearance was characteristic of a target going below the scope's limits. I am not a shill but it is an interesting book.]. Because of the lack of physical evidence, the probable cause of this accident is unknown. Here are the names of the people from the flight manifest. The aircraft remained unreported. The flight departed Miami at 2212[1] and landed at Tampa at 2300. [citation needed], Spears was eventually arrested in Phoenix after being turned in by the ex-wife a fellow naturopath in Arizona. She put it bluntly to the Dallas Morning News: "I believe that Spears hypnotized [Taylor] into doing it.". He was sentenced to the maximum term of 5 years. Spears disagreed with the characterization of himself as a sinister hypnotic puppetmaster. National Air Security Operation Center (NASOC) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Locations: (to include but not limited to the following locations) Sierra Vista, AZ; San Angelo, TX . BITTERN searched separate areas using Navy sonar. Shortly thereafter a Coast Guard helicopter arrived. Nothing unusual was observed and no other objects were observed in the vicinity of the flight which indicated to the station that any difficulty was being encountered". The autopsies of the bodies, all of which were identified by fingerprints, indicated that all had received traumatic injuries: injuries indicated that all nine persons had been seated at the time the aircraft struck the water. Fishermen in the Gulf who were questioned stated that they saw low-flying aircraft, but examination of their testimony indicated that they saw search aircraft shortly after the disaster and not the aircraft involved. He did not log the incident. It's quick and easy to. It turned out Mr Taylor was not just a gullible friend of Dr Spears--he was a criminal himself, Spears partner in crime for many years. AA967 Flight Tracker - Track the real-time flight status of American Airlines AA 967 live using the FlightStats Global Flight Tracker. In 1964, it became the first exclusively jet powered service in the United States . Without the planes black box, it is impossible to rule this out. National Airlines Flight 967 Blogs, Comments and Archive News on Economictimes.com Capt. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. He was not a licensed MD, and his license to practice naturopathy had been revoked in 1957. - May 1, 1961, Antulio Ramirez Ortiz hijacks a National Airlines flight from Miami International Airport to Cuba. Full-screen FlightAware TV maps for operators or FBOs. It appeared that the oil was rising from the northernmost point of this oil slick. Yeah, it's kinda sad (and annoying) that such a good read isn't inspiring much in the way of discussion hardly at all. Streaming flight data feed for enterprise integrations with real-time, historical and predictive flight data. Science Earth Science Question 5 Should national parks be preserved? Many sonar contacts were obtained by both ships but all were evaluated as marine life. The main wreckage has not been located . National Airlines Flight 967, registration N4891C, was a Douglas DC-7B aircraft that disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico en route from Tampa, Florida, to New Orleans, Louisiana, on November 16, 1959. Mrs Spears said that when he came to see her, Spears was sad about Taylors death. Who knows, Taylor might show up one day, alive and healthy. - February 11, 1952, a DC-6 crashed near Newark Airport, killing 29 out of 63 people on board. All 42 onboard were presumed killed in the accident.The flight originated in Miami at 10:22 PM the previous evening, landed at Tampa at 11:00 PM . The U.S.S. The passenger manifest for Tampa-New Orleans listed 36passengers. 2910'N, and Long. [] The fire marks on bodies and on debris were of the type caused exclusively by a flash surface fire, probably both hot and brief, upon impact with the water. National Airlines was a United States airline that operated from 1934 to 1980. After several decades of false names, new identities, fresh starts, abandoned wives, abandoned lives--he had spent the last years running "a lucrative underground abortion business". So why the stories from Spears? Without an aircraft, this was no easy task. Weather conditions in the area were poor, which meant that the crew had . Explosive decompression makes a plane crash look like the plane was blown up with a large bomb, but minus any larger pieces of wreckage as well as explosive residue proving it. While circling in this general area, several bodies were sighted as well as one liferaft that had been broken out of its case but was not inflated and appeared to be about three-fourths submerged. The man was a con artist. The National crew consisted of Captain Frank Eugene Todd, Copilot Dick . Geo resource failed to load. With more than 800 employees worldwide, the National Family offers rewarding opportunities for professional growth through our affiliate organizations National Air Cargo and National Airlines.We invite you to become a part of our award-winning team, and contribute to meaningful work in aviation, transportation, and global logistics. If there was, did it come before or after the crash? I have not yet been back in that direction, but in my few decades of air travel, every flight to Tampa meant a stop in Houston before moving on, and the same can be said for the return flight. I don't think Dr. Spears nor Taylor planned it/caused it, but Spears decided to take advantage of it after hearing what had happened. The prosecutor in Spearss abortion case pointed out they already had sworn affidavits from the abortion witnesses, which they could simply have read out in court. Otherwise, the loading of the aircraft was normal with the center of gravity located within prescribed limits and the gross weight some 11,000pounds under maximum permissible for takeoff. 0 bags. This is also unexplained. National Airlines Flight 967, a DC-7B on a flight from Tampa, Florida to New Orleans, crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. National Airlines Flight 967. [Some context here: In the 50s, life insurance vending machines were commonplace in airports. Recently, she said, Al Taylor had been strangely depressed and withdrawn, but his mood only lifted when he talked to Spears. A check by the company at this time showed that FAA, New Orleans Approach Control, and ARTC were also out of contact with Flight967. Thank you for the great write-up. However, Taylor purchased life insurance in his own name at the airport before departure; when his ex-wife applied to collect, the substitution was discovered. Goodness, I'm on the wrong plane!" Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. . He felt he had been a burden and it was a chance to free us of that burden.. Taylor's not going to let himself get talked into something as crazy as getting on a plane that's about to blow up. 50 years ago, in the early morning of January 6, 1960 on a flight bound from New York to Miami, National Flight 2511 crashed near Bolivia, North Carolina. Some twelve to fifteen minutes later a Coast Guard aircraft arrived and dropped smoke markers. Everyone loved the read as the comments here suggest and so did I but does anyone have a theory they favor? National Airlines Flight 967, registration N4891C, was a Douglas DC7B aircraft that disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico en route from Tampa, Florida to New Orleans, Louisiana on November 16, 1959. Adequate fuel, with reserve, was carried. * Douglas DC-7B We have been unable to find any such relationship. The inertia of the bodies was plainly downward and forward and the forces at impact were severe. There have been dozens of plane crashes due to explosive decompression. Nothing unusual was observed and no other objects were observed in the vicinity of the flight which indicated to the station that any difficulty was being encountered. Despite intensive searches over the following months and years by the Coast Guard, Civil Aeronautics Board, the US Navy, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and private companies--the rest of the wreckage has never been found. NH967 (All Nippon Airways) - Live flight status, scheduled flights, flight arrival and departure times, flight tracks and playback, flight route and airport The world's most popular flight tracker. About 72 square miles south of the area originally covered in November was swept and bottom contact approximately 110feet long was made at Lat. In Autumn 1960, while in jail, Spears agreed to a taped interview with reporter Ed Barker. Boeing 747-400BCF National Airlines N702CA Scale 1/400 XX4975. The mafia? [] for all those decades and all the different things they got up to. Throughout this observation the radar scope indicated no other object. Taylors son Junior dismissed the story. Searching continued through November23. Although sabotage was suspected, no definite cause of the crash was determined . Aviation Accident Report: National Airlines Flight 967, Aviation Accident Report: National Airlines Flight 967 Report. Questions also surround the third man involved in all this--William Turska, the naturopath who Spears went to stay with in the immediate aftermath of the crash. From January 9, 1960 to January 15, 1960, the U.S.S. These charts have been preserved for possible future use. Braniff International Airways Flight 542, a Lockheed L-188 Electra, registration N9705C, was a scheduled domestic flight from Houston, Texas, bound for New York with scheduled stops in Dallas and Washington, D.C. On September 29, 1959, 23 minutes into the 41-minute flight from Houston to Dallas Love Field, the aircraft disintegrated in mid-air approximately 3.8 miles (6.1 km) southeast of . No? Low frequency bearings were then taken on Grand Isle, on the New Orleans Range Station, and on the Mobile "H" facility, also from 14,000feet altitude. National Airlines Flight 967 Latest Breaking News, Pictures, Videos, and Special Reports from The Economic Times. Compare airfares and book tickets with lowest price on different airlines in real time 24 hours. Posts about National Airlines Flight 967 written by The Flightpath. Emirates Airlines is the preferable and national . Mrs Taylor recalled that Dr Spears had held an unnatural sway over her former husband. Delta Air Lines was scheduled to operate the flight between New Orleans, and its next stop, Dallas, TX, where American Airlines was to take over and operate the same aircraft from Dallas nonstop to Los Angeles. That day the two men also reportedly met with a man they referred to in letters only as "the fellow". The National plane was then spiralled in a climbing turn to 7,000feet in order to obtain VOR bearings for this position. National Airlines flight 193 lies partially submerged in the shallow waters of Escambia Bay in Pensacola. Planes, especially larger passenger ones, were still fairly new back then-- they were still figuring out the kinks. . The evening started as any other at an airport terminal as 105 were set board their National Flight 601 from New York bound for Miami on a Boeing 707. Spears had a long history of crime, having been arrested 17 times under 14 different aliases. Accordingly, the aircraft was flown in a northerly direction for some five to ten miles from the point of spiral-down, whereupon floating debris was seen. Flight data API with on-demand flight status and flight tracking data. Citing reports that Spears may have gone to Yuma while hiding out in Arizona, Logan notes, At that time the long US-Mexico border to the west and south of Yuma was largely unpatrolled.. Robert Vernon Spears (June 26, 1894 - May 2, 1969) was a naturopath who is alleged to have placed a bomb aboard National Airlines Flight 967, an aircraft that went missing over the Gulf of Mexico on November 16, 1959, killing 42 people.. History. According to Alan C. Logans book, Taylor had also met with Frank in New York (though Logan does not explain why). The Board, with the aid of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has thoroughly investigated Mr. A few moments before the departure of Flight967 from Tampa, Taylor purchased a flight insurance policy in the amount of $37,500 from a coin-operated machine at Tampa International Airport making his son the beneficiary and showing his destination as Dallas, Texas. All 42 on board were presumed killed in the incident. Investigation failed to reveal any item of maintenance of either the aircraft or its powerplants which could be significantly related to the accident. He estimates that the white trail took three or four seconds to go "straight down," and that the initial red flash was "almost as big as the sun." Sometimes with these mysteries that were so long ago it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the victims were people who were loved and cared for by many. 1. I personally think the plane wasn't blown up with explosives or there was any foul play. Great post! Flight Departure Times. The 36 passengers and six crew aboard Flight 967 from Tampa to New Orleans died in the accident 35.6 mi (57.3 km) off the coast of Pilottown, Louisiana. 1973 - Skylab 4 launches into orbit on the fourth Skylab mission, bringing the third and final crew to the American space station.. 1965 - Russia's Venera 3, the first spacecraft to land on another planet's surface, is launched toward Venus.. 1959 - National Airlines Flight 967, a Douglas DC-7 (registered N4891C) is destroyed by a bomb over the Gulf of Mexico, killing all 42 on . Post-mortem examinations of the nine bodies, all of which were identified by fingerprints, indicated that all had received traumatic injuries. Letters between the two men, which Mrs Taylor believed to be evidence of a skilful manipulation by Dr Spears, could also simply indicate a strong friendship. His wife would then cash in an insurance policy for $100,000 on Spears' life. A B D Yes, they help protect natural wonders No, the National Park Service is a waste of federal funding Yes, national parks provided recreational activities and environmental education No, national parks should return the land to indigenous Americans If it had been, I doubt there would be much mystery as to what happened. All 42 occupants perished. Boeing. PENGUIN assisted on November24 and on the following day made sonar contact at position 2916.4N, 8836.7'W. He asked her not to tell Junior this. The next morning (November 14), Taylor and Spears were together again--Taylors son Junior saw them drinking and laughing in Spearss hotel room, in a celebratory mood. I think it's because "my friend took my ticket last minute under my name, but when I heard the plane exploded, i decided to duck out and start a new life because not only am i a con man, I was in big trouble for illegal abortions too" doesn't make for a convincing story. However, at Pilottown, Louisiana, the United States Coast Guard maintains a manned lookout tower for observing surface craft approaching and departing the port of New Orleans. Robert Vernon Spears, a nationally known naturopathic doctor from . She contacted his work--they knew nothing. Alice Steel Taylor had long claimed that her ex-husband was nothing more than an unwitting puppet in Spearss schemes. National Airlines Flight 967, registration N4891C, [1] was a Douglas DC-7B aircraft that disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico en route from Tampa, Florida to New Orleans, Louisiana on November 16, 1959. At that time there was also very little airport security. Flight 967 was an interchange flight between three carriers; through plane service from Miami to Los Angeles. He heard about the Flight 967 disaster along the way, and although he was devastated to think his old pal had perished, Spears simply decided it was an opportunity for a fresh start.". National Airlines Flight 967, registration N4891C,[1] was a Douglas DC-7B aircraft that disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico en route from Tampa, Florida, to New Orleans, Louisiana, on November 16, 1959. * Douglas DC-6 Fri, 26 May 23. . Although sabotage was suspected, no definite cause of the crash was determined. Turska participated in a few interviews about the case--notably in Life Magazine--in which he played the part of a bemused bystander. The flight accepted the clearance and stated it would remain at 14,000feet a little longer. 03 hrs 40 mins . He also had convictions for drunk driving and drug possession. Turska claimed at the time he did not even know about the airplane crash. It's possible it was not a direct flight, and the next leg would have been from NO to Dallas. None of this disclosed conclusive evidence as to the genesis of the accident. Franks body was found with injuries significantly different from and much more extensive than the other passengers, injuries which were inconsistent with the type of injury usually incurred in an aircraft accident.
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