On August 31, 1940, Pennsylvania Central Airlines Trip 19, a new Douglas DC-3A, was flying from Washington, D.C. to Detroit with a stopover in Pittsburgh. While the aircraft was flying near Lovettsville, Virginia at 6,000 feet (1,800 m) and approaching the West Virginia border, Trip 19 encountered an intense thunderstorm. Numerous witnesses reported seeing a large flash of lightning shortly before it nosed over and plunged to earth in an alfalfa field. With limited accident investigation tools at the time, it was at first believed that the most likely cause was the plane flying into windshear, but the Civil Aeronautics Board report concluded that the probable cause was a lightning strike.[1][2] U.S. Senator Ernest Lundeen was among the 21 passengers and 4 crew members killed.[3][4][5] Also on board were "a Special Agent of the FBI, a second FBI employee, and a prosecutor from the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice." At the time of the crash, the FBI was investigating Sen. Lundeen's ties to George Sylvester Viereck, a top Nazi spy working in the US to spread pro-Hitler and anti-Semitic propaganda.[6]
 A DC-3 similar to the accident aircraft | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | August 31, 1940 |
| Summary | Lightning strike (probable) |
| Site | Near Short Hill Mountain, Lovettsville, Virginia 39°16′24″N 77°41′05″W / 39.27333°N 77.68472°W |
| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-3 |
| Operator | Pennsylvania Central Airlines |
| Registration | NC21789 |
| Flight origin | Washington, D.C. |
| Stopover | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Destination | Detroit, Michigan |
| Passengers | 21 |
| Crew | 4 |
| Fatalities | 25 |
| Survivors | 0 |
The crash occurred during a severe rainstorm, and recovery efforts were hindered by impassable flooded roads and poor communications: the crash cut the only telephone lines in the area. Wreckage was scattered over a broad area, and it is believed that all aircraft occupants died instantly on impact. At the time, the crash was the deadliest disaster in the history of U.S. commercial aviation.[7]
"Trip 19", as it was designated, was under the command of Captain Lowell V. Scroggins with First Officer J. Paul Moore. The pilot and copilot had over eleven thousand and six thousand hours experience respectively, although only a few hundred of those hours were on DC-3s. The aircraft was carrying 21 revenue passengers, a single flight attendant, and a deadheading airline manager riding in the jump seat in the cockpit.[1]
The DC-3A was newly delivered from Douglas Aircraft on May 25, 1940, equipped with twin Curtiss-Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 engines (also designated as G-102-A).[1]
The CAB investigation of the accident was the first major investigation to be conducted under the Bureau of Air Commerce act of 1938.[1]
References
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- ^ a b c d "Report of the Civil Aeronautics Board" (PDF). Civil Aeronautics Board. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-10-20. Retrieved 2009-04-15.
- ^ "Causes of U.S. accidents" (PDF). Flight. December 19, 1940. p. 529.
- ^ "Death in the Blue Ridge". Time. 1940-09-09. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
The news of the worst crash in the history of U. S. aviation ended 17 months of safe operation.
- ^ "Accident Details". planecrashinfo.com. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
- ^ Beitler, Stu. "Lovettsville, VA Air Disaster, Aug 1940". gendisasters.com. Archived from the original on May 10, 2017. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
- ^ "Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra; Episode 1: Trip 19". MSNBC. 10 October 2022.
- ^ "25 Killed as Airliner Crashes, Explodes in Worst Disaster of Aviation History". The Dallas Morning News. Dallas, Texas. Associated Press. September 1, 1940. Retrieved November 5, 2019.