American Airlines Flight 1 (1936)

American Airlines Flight 1 was a Douglas DC-2 airliner on a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Memphis to Little Rock. On Tuesday, January 14, 1936, the flight crashed into a swamp near Goodwin, Arkansas, disintegrating on impact and killing all 17 people on board. "With great difficulty the bodies of the victims were brought out of the marsh where their bodies were found scattered among fragments of the shattered plane."[1] At the time, it was the worst civil plane crash on U.S. soil.[2][3] As of 2016, it remains the deadliest crash in Arkansas state history.

American Airlines Flight 1
A Douglas DC-2 similar to the accident aircraft
Accident
DateJanuary 14, 1936 (1936-01-14)
SummaryUndetermined
SiteNear Goodwin, Arkansas, United States
34°56′17″N 91°01′15″W
Aircraft
Aircraft typeDouglas DC-2-120
OperatorAmerican Airlines
RegistrationNC14274
Flight originMemphis Municipal Airport, Memphis, Tennessee
DestinationLittle Rock National Airport, Little Rock, Arkansas
Passengers14
Crew3
Fatalities17
Survivors0

Cause

A cause for the crash could not be determined, though probable causes include passenger interference, fuel exhaustion in one tank, flying below a safe altitude, and/or the co-pilot somehow being alone at the controls.[4]

References
  1. Pickard, Edward W., "Seventeen Persons Die in Airplane Crash", Current Events in Review, Western Newspaper Union, The Perkins Journal, Perkins, Payne County, Oklahoma, Thursday 30 January 1936, Volume XLVI, Number 17, page 2.
  2. "Aviation Safety Network".
  3. "Plane Crash Info.com".
  4. "Plane Crash Info.com".
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