On January 2, 1949, a Seattle Air Charter DC-3C, carrying 27 Yale University students, home for the Christmas holidays, veers off the runway on takeoff, crashes into an aircraft hanger and bursts into flames. Fourteen people are killed in the mishap, including the three members of the flight crew, and 16 are rescued, all suffering injuries of varying degree. An investigation by the Civil Aeronautics Board will determine the probable cause of the mishap was an accumulation of ice on the surfaces of the wings.
A Durable Machine
The Douglas DC-3 Commercial Transport, developed in the mid-1930s, was an all metal, low-wing, twin-engine aircraft. It was not only highly reliable but comfortable and by 1939, approximately 90 percent of commercial air travelers were flying on this model aircraft. The Douglas Aircraft Company produced 455 DC-3s for the airline industry and 10,174 transports, designated the C-47 Skytrain, for the military during World War II (1941-1945). It was durable, adaptable and easy to maintain and fly. The aircraft was 64 feet, 8 inches in length, with a wingspan of 95 feet, and powered by two 1,200 horsepower Wright R-1820 Cyclone radial engines. At a cruising speed of 192 mph, the Douglas DC-3 had a range of 1,495 miles. It carried two pilots, one flight attendant, and had accommodations for up to 28 passengers, depending on the cabin configuration. After more than six decades, hundreds of DC-3s remain in service, carrying passengers or cargo. It is considered one of the greatest aircraft of all time.
Seattle Air Charter was solely owned and operated by William F. Leleand (1917-1949) of Seattle. The company held a non-scheduled air carrier operation certificate, issued June 4, 1947, and was authorized to carry both passengers and cargo.
Yale Students Onboard
On Sunday afternoon, January 2, 1949, Seattle Air Charter, Douglas DC-3C, registration No. NC79025, was sitting on the apron at Seattle-Boeing Field International Airport (now King County International Airport) passenger terminal awaiting a crew to transport 27 Yale University students to New Haven, Connecticut. The students had chartered the plane to fly them back to Yale after a two-week Christmas vacation.
During the day, the DC-3 had been parked on the field without wing covers. At approximately 4 p.m., it began to snow and up to three inches accumulated on the tarmac and surfaces of the aircraft. The temperature gradually dropped to well below freezing, leaving the ship covered with a layer of slush and ice. The 6 p.m. departure time was delayed so that the heavy accumulation could be removed. At 7:30 p.m., the copilot, Emmett G. Flood, Jr. (1917-1962), inspected the plane and refused to make the flight because of the severe icing. He left the field and returned home to Mercer Island. The pilot, George W. Chavers (1915-1949), engaged Kenneth A. Love (1910-1949) to substitute as copilot. William F. Leland, owner of Seattle Air Charter, would be onboard the flight as a reserve pilot. All the pilots were experienced, having served with the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II.
The weather continued to deteriorate with snow and low-lying fog periodically reducing visibility to less than half a mile, well below minimum standard for takeoff. The freezing slush was removed from the aircraft as it sat on the ramp, but a clear layer of ice soon reformed. Another attempt was made by Chavers, Leland, and an aircraft mechanic to remove the ice with a solution of isopropyl alcohol. They were able to rid the top surfaces of the wings and tail of ice, but neglected to remove a layer which had formed on the underside of the wings. And as the DC-3 sat, patches of rime and ice reformed on the top surface of the left wing.
Calamity on the Ground
At 9 p.m., the U.S. Weather Bureau advised Chavers that field conditions would remain variable with periods of near zero visibility mainly due to fog. Chavers decided to board the passengers and taxied the DC-3 to the north end of Runway 13 to wait for the fog to lift. At 10:04 p.m., the fog lifted briefly and the tower cleared the flight for takeoff. The aircraft rolled down the 7,500-foot runway and after 1,000 feet, the ship became airborne. The DC-3 began to veer to the left and flew for 1,800 feet before the left wing suddenly dipped and the wing tip scraped the ground. The pilot immediately aborted takeoff and the DC-3's tail wheel touched down, followed by the main landing-gear wheels. The aircraft continued onward at approximately 100 mph for 700 feet, crashed into an earth revetment by a Boeing Field hangar, and immediately burst into flames.
The air-traffic controller in the tower saw the DC-3's navigation lights veer off the runway and knew that a crash was likely imminent. He immediately notified the Boeing Field Fire Department, located only 200 feet from the revetment hangar. The watch captain heard the impact and responded immediately with a crash wagon and two fire trucks, arriving at the scene within one minute. The three firefighters on duty were assisted by two Boeing mechanics and three United Airlines ramp employees who were responsible for rescuing many of the students from the burning plane.
Ambulances transported the injured victims, suffering from burns, lacerations and smoke inhalation, to Harborview Hospital in Seattle for medical treatment. More firefighters and equipment quickly arrived from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and nearby communities and helped to quell the raging gasoline fire and drag the twisted wreckage away from the hangar.
A full night crew had been working inside the Boeing hangar, and all escaped without injury. The hangar door had been wide open, and fortunately the runaway plane hit the adjoining revetment and not the building. The hangar housed a new Boeing Stratocruiser, loaded with 2,000 gallons of aviation fuel, which was promptly towed out of harm's way.
Aftermath
Early Monday morning, January 3, 1949, King County Coroner John P. Brill, Jr. (1909-1971) and his deputies removed all the bodies from the charred fuselage. They were taken to the King County Morgue, located in the basement of Harborview Hospital, for identification and disposition. Thirty people had been aboard the DC-3, including the three pilots, and all were accounted for. Sixteen had survived the crash and ensuing fire and 14 had perished, most burned beyond recognition.
On Wednesday, January 5, a memorial service was held in Battell Chapel on the Yale University campus for the 11 students killed in the airplane mishap. The service was officiated by the Yale chaplain, Reverend Sidney Lovett, and attended by numerous school officials and professors and hundreds of the victims' classmates.
On Tuesday, January 18, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) opened an official investigation into the Seattle Air Charter crash at Boeing Field. The two-day hearing was held at the U.S. Courthouse in Seattle, during which a panel of four CAB officials elicited testimony from numerous witnesses into the circumstances surrounding the tragic accident. A point of controversy was a question of tower clearance during a period of below takeoff visibility minimums at Boeing Field. The board said that air-traffic controllers were not responsible for informing pilots of prospective Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) rule violations. The CAB enacted safety regulations and conducted accident investigations, while the CAA has responsibility for enforcing the rules. The board went on to say that an examination of the wreckage determined there had been no engine or structural failures. At the time of takeoff, the aircraft had been in excess of its permissible weight. The accumulation of ice on the wings not only added additional weight, but also critically altered the plane's aerodynamics.
The official CAB Accident Investigation Report, dated May 4, 1949, concluded: "The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the attempt to take off in an airplane which had formations of ice and frost on the surfaces of the wings" ("Civil Aeronautics Board Accident Investigation Report: Seattle Air Charter, Douglas C-47A-50-DL (DC-3), NC79025, Seattle, Washington, January 2, 1949," Civil Aeronautics Board, File No. 1-0002).
Crash Victims:
Noel L. Brown, age 18, Seattle
James Leonard Bryan, age 21, Portland, Oregon
George William Chavers, age 33, pilot
Harry Conrad Franzheim, age 19, Seattle
Don Lee Garrett, age 20, Portland, Oregon
David Bruce Haerle, age 19, Portland, Oregon
Wallace Hartley, age 18, Mercer Island
Ralph Deestine Laird, age 21, Camas
William Frederick Leland, age 31, DC-3 owner/reserve pilot
Kenneth A. Love, age 38, copilot (1910-1949)
Russell H. Palmer, age 27, Vancouver, Washington
Asbjorn Georg Reese, age 24, Seattle
Leonard B. Wickman, age 20, Bellevue
Roger W. Young, age 19, Seattle
