Rare pics from the New York Air Disaster

 

With Due Respect to Those Lost in the Devestating Crash Of 1960, 50 yrs later

2010 marked the 50th anniversary of what history calls The New York Air Disaster. To read up on the terrible disaster refer here, to my post about it . I am going to post people's memories that I was reading on a different site. This is important, just because these tragedies happened before our time does not mean people didn't die, they shouldn't be forgotten by any means. They say if you know where to look, you can still find the evidence of the event, such as debris that is still rusting in one mans backyard.

I was a second grader at St. Augustine’s School on Sterling Place, one block from the Pillar Of Fire Church on 7th Avenue that took a direct hit. My mother’s friend Benny, maybe Bernie, was selling Christmas trees in front of the church and was, in her word, vaporized. No trace. Same for the few praying parishioners inside. From my desk, I saw a piece of flaming wreckage falling through the air and seriously considered that the Second Coming might be upon us as the Mother Superior came on the squawk box to tell us to get under our desks. I remember my late mother telling me later that the pilot(s) had seen the flag on top of my school and others and was trying to crash in Prospect Park but couldn’t make it. She must have been freaked. A plane crash a block from your daughter’s school?
My late uncle Mike was NYPD SWAT and so he came to school to get me and then to the nursery school to retrieve my sister. They would not release us into the street to walk home, of course. As I recall, he walked me home basically with his hands over my eyes. Was the body of one of the planes in the middle of Flatbush Avenue for several days? There was wreckage everywhere for a very long time, and I imagine there were body parts in the beginning, but I never saw any blood that I remember. Firetrucks, ambulances, sanitation trucks.
I’d like to observe that as a result of this crash in the midst of the Urban Renewal movement, given the devastation to the neighborhood, there was a call to raze thousands of brownstones and put up “projects,” the same buildings we now rejoice to see imploded in a big bang. Park Slope (which in those days included what is now called Prospect Heights) was not a well-to-do neighborhood. Irish-Italian working class with the highest concentration of Irish bars in America occurring along Flatbush from the Bridge to the Park. There were always, however, fancy people in the buildings along Prospect Park West and Eastern Parkway, and along 8th Avenue, which we called “Doctor’s Row.” These people banded against the Urban Renewal projects and instead created the first Historic District in New York City, a most enlightened result. Hats off to the late Evelyn Ortner, with whom I studied in the country’s first Master’s program in Historic Preservation at Columbia University and later at St. Ann’s in Brooklyn (now grown to St. Ann’s Warehouse) and all her partners in this effort.
Rest in peace, every one.

— Janine Nichols

This was worldwide headline news.
I remember this even though I hadn’t yet lived in the city of New York at the time!
It wasn’t long after this that I started flying on commercial airliners back and forth from New York City to Bangor, Maine.
We just can’t spend our lives living in fear.
— Perley J. Thibodeau

I was an intern at Kings County Hospital that tragic day. We received word two planes had crashed over Brooklyn. We sent out medical staff and ambulances to the site. In the ER we discharged patients to floors and cleared out the ER. We set up dozens of clean beds with IV Bottles hooked up and ready to administer, The medical staff was greatly saddened and upset when we were told there was no one coming to our hospital. As I recall the lone survivor was taken to Methodist Hospital.
We all felt helpless. The docs and nurses ,when they came back, commented how unprepared they felt because of a lack of planning and equipment. Thankfully now much has changed in preparedness. Lessons learned.
— Louis Cardi, MD

I lived in Atlanta and this touched me as a ten year old in 1960- I was almost the same age as Steven. I am a videographer and made this tribute video of the crash which I shared with members of the Baltz family.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaVywv17Q4c
thanks for the articles and look forward to reading more. as for “season to be jolly” this is more to the fragility of life and the hearts that reached out to Steven Baltz.
— mike brown

 

My father is a retired NYC Fire Department employee. He was a fireman on Staten Island at the time of this crash. He assisted in the recovery of bodies from the TWA plane. To this day he talks about this crash and vividly recalls how horrific it was.
— Greg Z.

The day of the crash

it is one of those events that you’ll remember as long as you live, i was in the kitchen visiting and talking with my grandfather at his home on 18 street ,about a mile from the accident site, we were stunned by the sound of the crash, it sounded like a bomb and to tell the truth being that those were the days of the deepest cold war when everybody was building atomic shelters, i thought it was an atomic bomb.on one hand we were relieved when we found out later that it wasn’t but still we were saddened by the loss of life both on air and on the ground.
— turiddhu

My family’s dear friend Herman Muller was killed in that crash. He lost the joy of his life and so did we.
He was an exciting man. On summer vacations he got my dad to help saw and chop wood for the fire of our annual big cook out of bean hole beans. During the rest of the year we’d occasionally visit his family in Hackensack, where he had built a tower in the back yard for no particular reason other than the joy of it..
I believe Herman was an ex CCC guy, and his ourdoorsy tendencies were infections. He was a great influence on our lives.
Saul Berkowitz
— Saul Berkowitz

I was in the 3rd grade at Crompond Elementary School in Yorktown Hgts., NY. The crash was announced over the loud speaker system. I remember Wendell Hoffman said his father was supposed to be on board a plane that morning. He was really scared and we were really scared for him. And my Grandpa Pete lived only a few blocks from the crash, he ran over right after it happened. He recalled that it was a terrible thing to see. Buon Natale, Nonno. Chicken Little didn’t seem so little after that crash.
As it turned out Wendell’s dad missed the plane………….
— Jeff in RI

I was sitting in a freshman class at Brooklyn College when this happened. I will never forget the sound that echoed across the borough.
— Debbie Garson

I was 9 at the time, living in Mass., and due to go with my mother and brother to visit my grandfather in Florida soon after the crash. I was glued to the news, and put up such a scream about air travel that my parents cancelled the flight and booked train tickets. During that ride between Boston and St. Petersburg I saw rural trackside poverty that changed my life.
Took me 10 years of flying to be comfortable in turbulence.
— Fraidy Cat

My late father, Ernest L. Gayle, was a top administrator of what was then the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA), and offered expert testimony at the inquiry which determined the cause of the crash. The day the planes collided was my sixth birthday, and I remember hearing the news on the kitchen radio in my childhood home. I will remember it always.
— debategirl1mom

I was attending St. Saviour’s High School, about 12 streets away when that plane crashed, and we could feel it in our classroom.
The nuns had us pray for the people on the plane and sent us home early. Streets were blocked off, acrid smoke mixed with the rain, and although we were told only that there was a crash and there may be survivors, we couldn’t imagine anyone surviving that impact.
It took years for me to gather enough courage to get on a plane after that, but have flown many times since. However I am always thankful upon landing and tell the pilots and crew how much I appreciate their skill and efforts.
Marjorie
— Marjorie Riley Nagin

 

My father, returning from a business trip, was booked on the United flight. He and his co-worker were running through O’Hare to catch the flight. They passed a gate where another flight was scheduled to depart for New York. My Dad, figuring they were likely to miss the United flight, said they should just wait and take the other flight. That’s what they did.
I was a child then and I remember hearing the news and the anxious hours. My mother, his company, our whole family, thought he was dead. When he surfaced, there was such overwhelming relief. My parents are gone now and this series of articles is helping me to flesh out my memories and to realize how much this must have affected my father. It wasn’t until I read this article that I realized that my Dad died sixteen years later of cancer almost to the day (December 18, 1976) that this accident happened.
— Marilyn Miller

40 years from now there’s going to be a story like this about 9/11, though probably much bigger/widely read .And then all of us who’ were old enough to know what was going on will remember …just like these folks.
— Joe

 

 

 

I remember 12/16 /1960.
That crash took place during a bad snow storm that had started that AM. The geniuses at our Junior High in Queens literally threw us out of school at 1PM because they felt the buses that picked us up at 3PM wouldn’t make it.
None of us had boots and few had gloves or hats as the severity of the storm was a surprise.
My friends and I walked just about a mile to get home.
It was miserable.
Just one of the many reasons I hated Junior High.
When we got home the story about the collision was on all the TV stations.
— Frank Leja

I remember the collision — it transfixed the City much like 9/11 later did. The tabloids ran the story on their front pages for days. The television news media was just coming into its own in the City and covered the event and ensuing stories afterwards. One young passenger survived the crash and lived for a couple of weeks capturing the public’s sympathy.
But goodness knows — if 50 years ago that plane had fallen into any other nabe in NYC we wouldn’t be seeing this extensive write-up in Park Slope-centric CR today.
And it’s axiomatic that Park Slope (as is the case with any urban nabe) had to first decline before it could be gentrified and thus ultimately find itself home to the bulk of the NYT’s CR reporters.
That said, at the time, the plane crash seemed but another example of the decline Brooklyn seemed to be undergoing. By ‘58 the Dodgers had left and white flight was accelerating from areas like Fort Green, Brownsville, Crown Hts., East NY etc. Abraham & Straus was on its last legs as the downtown commercial center around Fulton Street went into a long-term decay. Heck, even the Heights was “in trouble”,
What a difference 50 years makes.
— George

My family lived @ 180 sterling Pl at the time of the crash. My mom thought the boiler (apt heat) had blown up. Took my brother and sister & hid under the bed. Quite a day for the Addotta family and all who lived near > One of my closest friends.. helped carry the bodies to the near make shift morgue… The Plaza Bowling Alley ! He has Never flown in a plane… .NEVER !! & never will because of this day. Says the smell still haunts him.” You never really leave a place you love… part of it you take with you, leaving a part of you behind…” : ((
I LOVE NEW YORK xoxoxox
— Joyce

 REST IN PIECE TO THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES <3

 

 

Explosion Of The Westfield II Ferry

The Staten Island Ferry has seen it's fair share of disaster. The first time I remember was in 2003, the driver crashed into the dock at the St. George terminal. The driver of the boat plead guilty to manslaughter, word has it not only was he high but he wasn't properly trained on safety regulations. This deadly crash killed 11 people and injured 70.

The next crash was in 2010, this one was far less of a disaster then the one in 2003. No one was killed and about 37 people where hurt with only 1 serious injury. This was also the same boat, the Andrew Barberi, that was involved in the 2003 crash. This time the crash was due to a mechanical failure, the brakes went out as the boat approached the pier.

But my story is about 1871 so ill just get on with it. On July 30th, 1871 a speical boat was added to the tranist line to help deal with the mass of people traveling on Sunday afternoon. This boat was called the Westfield II. The boat wasn't normally apart of the SIT operations, but on this day was being used by it. The boat had about 400 people abored, and departed out of the City between 1 and 2 o'clock. In between this time one of the boilers under the front deck exploded causing an unspeakable amount of horrified screams and cries among passengers and people along the shore line. The explosion was so forceful The New York Times wrote about it as such: "The boiler exploded with terrific power, the whole end of the boat on which the people were gathered was torn to tatters; fragments went upward and outward. But that mass of humanity! Who can picture! Who dare to even think of it! Lifted into the air, hurled into the water, buried in the debris of the wreck, bruised mangled, scalded, roasted, men, women, children, babes, were mingled in a mass of indescribable horror." The New York Times called the Westfield "The Vessel of Death"
As it was first estimated that there were 40 deaths, but after all the passengers where accounted for it was about 125, with many more injured. This is the worst disaster in the ferry boat history since its opening in 1817. The boat was torn to shreds and there was debris floating in the waters near by. Even people who weren't on the boat where scolded and burnt.

this is a wood carving of bodies being discovered.

Following the disaster Jacob Vanderbilt, the president of the Staten Island Railway at the time, was arrested and brought up on charges for murder. There was much gossip about the man who engineered and designed the boat, for he was a colored man who wasn't really qualified as an engineer and who couldn't read, that didn't sit well with a lot of people at the time. Jacob Vanderbilt defended his employee who he had working for him for 16 years. Vanderbilt managed to escape the murder charges. The cause of the explosion is still unknown, though its thought to have something to do with a lose plate under the boiler that could have gave way. The ferry had been inspected as was deemed safe and usable for the public. The inspector said that there was nothing that seemed to be alarming at the time of the inspection. He also said that he cleared the use of 25 pounds of steam to be used, the most to be used under the legal amount. But the ferry’s superintendent, James Braisted said that the practice of  “carrying steam above the pressure allowed by the Inspector’s certificate was not uncommon” and that he “frequently had to reprimand his engineers for carrying steam in excess of that allowed by law.”

The Times ran a story about the survivors and their accounts of what happened here are a few.

Mrs. Abbie Cowan Phillips, was sitting with her husband, two infant children and paternal grandparents in a closed proximity of the ferry at the time the explosion occurred. Speaking through her son, Mrs. Phillips recollected the event:

"Mr. Phillips said that his mother still recalls the horror of the scenes as the boat went down, but clearest of all are recollections of the part her ofnw family played in the tragedy. The two tiny children and the grandparents were lost. Mr. and Mrs. Phillips were taken to the same hospital, but occupied different rooms. The wife was badly burned, and underwent what was then one of the pioneer skin-grafting operations. Mrs. Phillips had been told that her husband survived, but believed the doctors were deceiving her. As a matter of fact, her husband had been blinded, but this the hospital authorities feared to inform her. As Mrs. Phillips was recovering she was allowed to wander from ward to ward. One day as she walked about she was gladden by the sound of her husband’s voice, calling to a nurse for some attention. She rushed to him. Mr. Phillips threw his arms about her, and, in the shock and excitement of the reunion, suddenly regained his sight.
Thought for a time the doctors had abandoned hope, Mr. Phillips lived twenty years after the accident."

 Another eyewitness said:

"the forward part of the boat was lifted fifty feet in the air, the smoke stack fell, and everything was buried in the hold. Many persons were blown overboard. A father and a mother had their children blown from their arms. The water in an instant was alive with men, women, and children struggling for life. A number of persons, it is not known how many, were drowned. The debris in the fore part of the hold was first removed. The cries of the poor half boiled victims were heartrending. Stimulants were given them as they struggled beneath the beams, and oil was poured upon their burns. As fast as the wounded were recovered they were borne to the deck of another ferry boat moored alongside, where they were tenderly cared for. As fast as it could be done, they were removed to the various hospitals of the city."

 The engineer of the boat said:

"I have been employed by the Company for 16 years; I was in the fire-room five minutes before the explosion; asked the fireman, PATRICK FINNEGAN, about the water, and he said it was 'all right'; went to the boiler myself, and found the water above the third cock; went up through the engine room and noticed that the gauge indicated 27 pounds of pressure of steam; then I went on deck; in two minutes I came back, and just as I was going down the stairs to the engine room the explosion took place; I cannot say what caused the explosion; the boiler had a patch on the part where the break was; I examined it three days ago and found it in good condition."

 (* the Westfield II was named after the USS Westfield, this boat was sent out to war. I will do a post on this boat at another date)

1960 New York Air Disaster

The New York air disaster of 1960 was at the time the worst plane crash in the history of the USA. The crash happened at 10:33 am on Dec 16,1960 crashing west over Miller Field in Staten Island, New York. Half of the crash fell on to Miller Field in New Dorp, while the other half went down in Park Slope in Brooklyn. The crash killed 84 people aboard Flight 826, 44 on Flight 266 and 6 people on the ground. There was one sole survivor, an 11 year old boy on his way to visit his mother and sister in NY. Stephen Baltz was thrown from the plane on impact and fell into a near by snowbank. The boy only survived the crash, he lost his battle for life about 26 hours after the crash at Park slope's New York Methodist Hopital, the cause of death was due to burns that covered about 90% of his body.

11-year-old Stephen Baltz of Wilmette, Illinois

When asked about the crash and the last thing he remember the boy said when it happened he was looking at the snow fall over the city; "It looked like a picture out of a fairy book. It was a beautiful sight."  The only description of the crash he gave was "I heard a big noise while we were flying. The last thing I remember was the plane falling."

Flight 826 was 12 miles off course according to its "Black box" and also dived 3,600 feet in 81 seconds and dropped its speed from more than 500 miles per hour to 363 miles per hour when it hit the right side of the TWA plane at between 5,250 and 5,175 feet. This crash was the 1st time the black box was ever used to report extensively on crash details. Shortly before the crash, the crew reported its VOR receivers had stopped working, this made it difficult to fly on instrument conditions. They didn't however notify traffic controls. The flight was given a holding point as to where to stay and at 10:25 air controls cleared it. But not in time to advise other traffic near by to be aware and the two planes hit.

If you know where to look, there is still evidence of the crash in Park Slope. One man still has debris rusting in his backyard. Considering the crash hit in a very populated area in Brooklyn its amazing that only 6 people lost their lives on the ground. The plane that fell into Park Slope tried to make it to Prospect Park so that it at least wouldn't be on the streets. Unfortunately it landed on Sterling Pl and 7Th Ave., right in front of The Pillars of Fire Church.

Park Slope

 New York Times