National Airlines Flight 101
Newark Airport, New Jersey | |
Destination | Miami, Florida |
---|---|
Occupants | 63 |
Passengers | 59 |
Crew | 4 |
Fatalities | 29 |
Injuries | 34 |
Survivors | 34 |
Ground casualties | |
Ground fatalities | 4 |
National Airlines Flight 101 was a scheduled flight from
Crash
The aircraft, a four-engined, propeller-driven Douglas DC-6, had departed from Newark Airport's runway 24 at 00:18 EST and was observed by personnel in the control tower suddenly losing altitude, while veering to the right. Two minutes later, the plane clipped an apartment building in Elizabeth, setting it on fire; it then crashed to the ground and burst into flames, narrowly missing an orphanage.[2]
Of the 63 people on board (59 passengers and 4 crew members), 29 perished, while all of the survivors were injured, many seriously. Four residents in the apartment building were also killed. Among the passengers was actress Mildred Joanne Smith, who suffered severe injuries, including a broken back.
Investigation
The official investigation by the
Aftermath
In the wake of this third accident in Elizabeth, mounting public concern led to a lengthy closure of Newark Airport and to a nationwide review of the safety of airport operations. The airport reopened only nine months later, on November 15, 1952, after the investigations into the crashes determined that the airport facilities were not at fault.[3]
The three crashes later provided the inspiration to writer and Elizabeth resident Judy Blume for her 2015 novel In the Unlikely Event.[4]
References
- ^ "Douglas DC-6 N90891 Newark International Airport, NJ". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
- ^ )
- ^ "Crash From The Past". NJ Today. CMD Media. December 16, 2010. Archived from the original on October 30, 2015. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
- ^ Hyman, Vicki (December 15, 2014). "Judy Blume's upcoming adult novel tackles real-life plane crashes in 1950s Elizabeth". NJ.com. Retrieved December 17, 2019.