1957 Pacoima mid-air collision: Difference between revisions

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On January 31, 1957, a [[Douglas DC-7|Douglas DC-7B]] operated by [[Douglas Aircraft Company]] was involved in a [[mid-air collision]] with a [[United States Air Force]] [[Northrop F-89 Scorpion]] and crashed into the schoolyard of [[Pacoima Middle School|Pacoima Junior High School]] located in [[Pacoima, Los Angeles|Pacoima]], a suburban area in the [[San Fernando Valley]] of [[Los Angeles]], [[California]].<ref>Hill, Gladwyn. "[https://www.nytimes.com/1957/02/01/archives/7-die-as-planes-collide-and-one-falls-in-schoolyard-planes-collide.html 7 Die as Planes Collide and One Falls in Schoolyard; PLANES COLLIDE, SCHOOL YARD HIT Roar Alerts Students 'Everything on Fire' Witness Describes Crash]." ''[[The New York Times]]''. Friday February 1, 1957. Page 1. Retrieved on February 3, 2010. "Wreckage of airliner falls into school yard at Pacoima, Calif." (subscription req'd)</ref><ref>"[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19570131-0 31-JAN-1957 Douglas DC-7B N8210H]." ''[[Aviation Safety Network]]''. Retrieved on February 3, 2010.</ref><ref>"[https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/458430202.html?dids=458430202:458430202&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Feb+01%2C+1957&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=7+KILLER%2C+74+HURT+IN+SCHOOL+AIR+CRASH&pqatl=google 7 KILLED, 74 HURT IN SCHOOL AIR CRASH] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025082626/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/458430202.html?dids=458430202:458430202&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Feb+01,+1957&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=7+KILLER,+74+HURT+IN+SCHOOL+AIR+CRASH&pqatl=google |date=October 25, 2012 }}."{{sic}}''[[Los Angeles Times]]''. February 1, 1957. Start page 1. 5 pages. Retrieved on February 3, 2010. {{deadlink|date=June 2021}}</ref>

Following the collision, Curtiss Adams, the radarman aboard the eastbound twin-engine F-89J Scorpion, was able to bail out of the stricken fighter jet and, despite incurring serioussevere burns, parachuted to a landing on a garage roof in [[Burbank, California|Burbank]], breaking his leg when he fell to the ground. The fighter jet's pilot, Roland E. Owen, died when the aircraft plummeted in flames into La Tuna Canyon in the [[Verdugo Mountains]].<ref name="SA-323"/>

The DC-7B, with a portion of its left wing shorn off, remained airborne for aabout few20 seconds. minutes thenIt rolled to the left and began an uncontrollable, spiraling, high-velocity dive earthward. In doing so, it began raining debris onto the Pacoima neighborhoods below as the aircraft began to break apart. Seconds later, part of the hurtling wreckage slammed onto the grounds of the Pacoima Congregational Church, killing all four Douglas crewmencrew members aboard while the major portions fellexploded above and slammed onto the adjacent playground of [[Pacoima Middle School|Pacoima Junior High School]]. On the school playground, where 220 boys were ending their outdoor athletic activities, the wreckage broke upon explosion and impact into numerous pieces, and intense fires began due to the aircraft's fuel and oil. Distinct craters were made in the playground by each of the four engines as well asand the main center fuselage section. Two students were struck and killed by this wreckage and debris. A third gravely injured student died two days later in a local hospital. An estimated number of at least 75 more students on the school playground suffered injuries ranging from critical toand minor injuries.<ref name="joangushin-1">{{Cite web |url=http://www.joangushin.net/crashpictures.html|title=Crash Pictures}}</ref>

The collision was blamed on pilot error and the failure of both aircraft crews to exercise proper [[visual flight rules|“see"see and avoid”avoid" procedures]] regarding other aircraft while operating under [[visual flight rules]] (VFR). The crash also prompted the [[Civil Aeronautics Authority|Civil Aeronautics Board]] (CAB) to set restrictions on all aircraft test flights, both military and civilian, requiring that they be made over open water or specifically approved sparsely populated areas.<ref name="SA-323" />

The event is depicted in the film ''[[La Bamba (film)|La Bamba]]'', the 1987 biopic of [[rock 'n' roll]] figure [[Ritchie Valens]], who was a 15-year-old student at Pacoima Junior High School at the time of the disaster but was not at school that day because he was attending the funeral of his grandfather.<ref> {{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jan-28-me-then28-story.html?_amp=true |author=Cecilia Rasmussen |title=The day fiery disaster fell from the sky |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=January 28, 2007 |access-date=May 15, 2021}}</ref><ref> {{cite web |url=https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/02/19/childhood-pal-recalls-ritchie-valens-as-sweet-tough-from-murrieta-home/ |author=Allen, David |title=Childhood pal recalls Ritchie Valens as 'sweet,' 'tough' from California home |date=February 19, 2021 |access-date=May 15, 2021}}</ref>

Valens was not at school that day because he was attending the funeral of his grandfather.<ref> {{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-jan-28-me-then28-story.html?_amp=true |author=Cecilia Rasmussen |title=The day fiery disaster fell from the sky |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=January 28, 2007 |access-date=May 15, 2021}}</ref><ref> {{cite web |url=https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/02/19/childhood-pal-recalls-ritchie-valens-as-sweet-tough-from-murrieta-home/ |author=Allen, David |title=Childhood pal recalls Ritchie Valens as 'sweet,' 'tough' from California home |date=February 19, 2021 |access-date=May 15, 2021}}</ref> Recurring nightmares of the disaster led to Valens' [[fear of flying]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-12-29-me-1334-story.html |author=Kahler, Karl |title=On Pacoima Playground With Ritchie Valens : Grief Moves Him to Save Lives |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |quote=One student developed an intense fear of flying after the accident--Ricardo Valenzuela, who later adopted the name Ritchie Valens. |date=Dec 29, 1988 |access-date=May 15, 2021}}</ref> which he overcame after he launched his music career. Unfortunately, Valens was killed in a plane crash two years later, along with fellow rock 'n' rollers [[Buddy Holly]] and [[The Big Bopper]] as well as pilot Roger Peterson, when their chartered [[Beechcraft Bonanza]] crashed near [[Mason City, Iowa]], late at night of [[The Day the Music Died|February 3, 1959]].<ref>{{citationCite web needed|title=Ritchie Valens {{!}} Biography, Songs, Plane Crash, Donna, La Bamba, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ritchie-Valens |access-date=January2023-01-31 2022|website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> However, in the nightmare sequences of the film, the first collision was portrayed by two [[general aviation]] aircraft (one of which was the Beechcraft Bonanza, the model in which Valens actually died), as opposed to the aircraft in the actual disaster.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

The 1957 crash was discussed on the May 19, 1957, episode of ''[[The CBS Radio Workshop]]'' (entitled "Heaven Is In the Sky").<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-CBS-Radio-Workshop.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150115221408/http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-CBS-Radio-Workshop.html |title=The Definitive CBS Radio Workshop Radio Log with Parley Baer, Herb Butterfield and William Conrad |archivedate=January 15, 2015 |accessdate=January 15, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/CBSRadioWorkshop |title=CBS Radio Workshop}}</ref> The program described when and how both planes took off from their respective airfields, and included discussion of how the Pacoima Junior High School was having the 7th -grade students outside for exercise. It also included interviews with people who were witnesses and/or affected by the crash.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}