Passengers 41 Survivors 0 Date 14 February 1953 Operator National Airlines Survivor 0 | Crew 5 Aircraft type Douglas DC-6 Injuries (nonfatal) 0 Fatalities 46 (all) Passenger count 41 | |
 | ||
Summary Turbulence, in-flight breakup Site Gulf of Mexico, off Mobile Point, Alabama Similar USMC R4Q NROTC c, 1953 Nutts Corner BEA Vick, Transocean Air Lines Flight 512, Tachikawa air disaster, 1953 Skyways Avro York | ||
National Airlines Flight 470 was a regularly scheduled flight between Tampa and New Orleans that crashed on 14 February 1953 after encountering severe turbulence. The crash marked the worst accident in the history of National Airlines, killing 46 (5 crew and 41 passengers), among them Billy DeBeck's widow.
Events
The Douglas DC-6, registered N90893, crashed into the Gulf of Mexico 20 mi (32 km) off Mobile Point en route to New Orleans. The USCGC Blackthorn assisted in search and recovery operations. National Airlines did not maintain its own meteorology department, as was standard among airlines at the time, and its pilots were not informed of the strength of the storm into which they were flying.
References
National Airlines Flight 470 (1953) Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA