1957 collision over pacoima1957 collision over pacoima

She told him she didnt know where I was. Hi Russ.who knows? By then, I was really hanging on to the fence. I was in auditorium when this happened,,,there was the loud boom and some shaking of the building. When they finally let us out of school with instruction to go home, we all went over to the Jr. high school to look. Thank you for your kind words about dad. Yes, its sobering to think of what might have happened if the DC-7 had veered one way or the other into the auditorium, classrooms or the many nearby residences. From one Poly high alum to another, I really appreciate the thanks at your sign-off; I am now more convinced that posting this story/recording was a good thing to do. The pilot, Roland Earl Owen, 35, of Palmdale, went down with the jet in La Tuna Canyon; the radar operator, Curtiss A. Adams, 27, parachuted to safety. The episode title is "Heaven Is In The Sky." Hey Brian Of course, none of us knew how to play so our poker sessions were quite long and involved. As I travel back to that place my heart goes out, once again, to all those kids, teachers, parents, flight crews, and first responders whose lives were forever changed that day. I realized I was only 3 years old. Last night I saw it again and it and a recent visit to San Fernando got me looking at pictures of the Valley in the 50s. Within minutes we knew that it had been an airplane that crashed into Pacoima Jr. High School. Russ, I also knew Pam. My uncles story was one that has not been told and I think it added to your blog rather than detracting from it. I cannot tell you how the events of that day and this recording have stayed with me all these days. It has helped my recollection of the events on January 31,1957. Jan. 31, 1957 was a tragic day in the northern San Fernando Valley. Finally Russ, thanks for providing this place for us to express our thoughts. lided over the Grand Canyon. God bless all of those who had family that were involved. Russ, Like Randal said, I did not know where it crashed till I got home. Also, why did your mom rush the two of you toward the disaster? Your dadwherever he ismust be very proud of you, because its clear that you hold gently and carefully the hearts of those who experienced this event. I hope you were able to contact each other. It was a warm day and our teacher had both doors to the classroom open. It made an impact on me. Coincidentally enough, your brothers chum, Richard Berger, wrote in to this blog two days after you did. I too was adjacent to the junior HS. My brother, Richard Bliven, was in the school yard when the plane crashed. I was soaked in oil, my heavy coat was ripped up from flying bits of metal but had no real injuries. Thanks to those who have shared their thoughts here. Kris. Part of an engine crashed through the roof of the church auditorium, smashing windows and destroying that building. It is pretty cool. We saw the plane actually come down and crash in the gym field.A huge billowing cloud of Black smoke and orange fire Lit up inside of our classroom. As it turned out, my brothers class was safe. Sister Pam here. For some god-forsaken reason, my mother scooped me and a my baby brother up, and we headed for the sight of the explosion. Hi, Jim Wollensak was the brand of recorder, not the tape. Maybe 500 to 1000 feet off the ground. Source: https://russellbuchanan.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/pacoima-jr-high-school-airplane-crash-of-1957-audio/Recording owner: Russ Buchanan He was not happy with my behavior. Even though this crash was well documented, it just seemed to fade away and no one spoke about it, but in my mind it was big. Then it became a deadly trap, New York woman driven to wrong address is fatally shot by homeowner, The actor, the hairstylist and the eye surgeon: Drugs and death in a Malibu beach house, Have guests in town? Probably both. Prior to the plane crash, my row was drawing/painting on easels next to the windows. If any reader happens to know what exactly was going on in the auditorium at the time of the crash, please write. Our bungalow classroom backed up to the fence division. Mary Jo Losso-Engle, Los Angeles, CA. I lived on Obeck, which was situated between Terra Bella and Kagle Canyon (north-south) and Canterbury and Beachy (east-west) so I was pretty far from the school and dont remember hearing anything unusual. HE CARRIED HIS GUITAR WHERE EVER HE WENT. Ill shoot you an email. Airplane debris from the mid-air crash over Pacoima Junior High on January 31 . Thanks again, Sheryl. I still remember one woman, horrified nearly senseless, walking through the wreckage screaming My baby, my baby, where is my baby? The police took charge and emptied the playground of mothers and gawkers. Hi, my distant cousin was Evan Clark Meddy Elsner who was killed as a result of this crash. I lived on Daventry street and attended Telfair Avenue School. And that Richie Valens died in a plane crash is so ironic and disturbing that it still gives me chills. My sister and I lost touch with Cindy, his sister, in the late sixties. It seemed as if hundreds of mothers and their little children gathered at the fence line, frantic and crying. Youve come to the right place. Hey Bill If you mean Beachy, I dont know. Ive often wondered if the offspring of those killed on that awful day would one day visit this site. The more people who comment on this story, the more I understand how traumatic this awful event was for the kids who witnessed it. I was doing some research on this so thanks for posting the information. I think we played poker a lot. July 12, 1963: Curtiss A. Adams, the only man to survive the Jan. 31, 1957, crash of an F-89J and a DC-7B over Pacoima, testifies in a lawsuit between Douglas, which made the transport, and Northrop, which built the F-89J. If there is anyone else, please call me. The noise was something out of a action movie. That led me to your site and all of the information everyone has added as comments. I never forgot it, its not the sort of thing you forget. The news of the crash spread like wild fire through the school even though we were miles away. I remember there was an electrical problem that caused his amp to repeatedly emit a very loud flatulent-like sound at about a billion decibels, while the lead microphone was sending blue arcs of house current into my nose. After my capture, I was taken into an office and told to wait. Hi Jill Pam often checks in to read the latest comments here. As I wrote above, he almost never spoke of the disaster. A few months ago I was listening to the recording for the zillionth time, and decided to put it up on the blog. My mom came running out of the house, screaming for me to come home. We lived on Varna Ave., 1.25 miles from Pacoima Junior High. My cousin, Chris Carr, forwarded an article about the 50-year reunion at PJHI would have loved to attended! I developed the Orange County Mass Casualty Plan as my class project. My major was in Human Resource Development. God bless the lost souls, the injured and their families. Oh, my. They had come to the school because, of course, they had children there. And Larry Bakken. Whenever I play golf at Hansen Damn, I always try to drive through the old neighborhood. It was a miracle that the plane didnt crash into the elementary school as well as the gym field. Cmcdes, Russ What years are you talking about? Because we were children, and in an age when you simply go on with life, those I know of have done just that. In 1957 a mid air collision over Pacoima Junior High killed 5 crew members, 3 children and injured 78. Well drawn memories like yours add dimension to the story and help to give those of us who werent there a better idea of the situation, awful as it was. God bless you and all those who visit here. I had a clear view of the plane. to tell us that our father, William (Bill) Carr had died in a plane crash. Cmdes thanks for commenting. Id never heard of him before. I looked up toward my right and saw a big airplane (I was in the second grade, about 7 years old) on fire. What caused the plane to break apart must have been due to extreme speed going down and turning in all directions. Thanks for your fascinating website, and for the chilling and haunting audio of the plane crash at Pacoima Junior High School. The journey back to the morning of Jan. 31, 1957, began with a phone call from retired nurse Mary Lewandowski, who wondered how to find out what had happened to the two boys she'd spent four months caring for at Sun Valley Hospital nearly 50 years earlier. Elementary School opened and I had to go there. The image of a hunk of metal slicing through an elementary school classroom is terrifying. that terrible day. I came to this site preparing for my 50 year Polytechnic High School class reunion September 14 & 15 in Ventura, CA. Definitely left a mark on my young memory. I was born in 52 and started at Beachy when I was six. The windows of our classroom faced north and provided a nearly unobstructed view of the events. If I ever brought it up or talked about it, people in Northern California didnt know anything about it and thought I was being overly dramatic, so I just didnt talk about it. There was fire. I was just a baby living in Pacoima at the time on Cedros Ave. Having not heard of this terrible event until now, it makes me wonder if it was the incentive for my parents to move us away from Pacoima in 1958. Or did the magnitude of what you had witnessed come later? Thanks for the appreciation. Recently, I added the story of the Pacoima Junior High School plane crash, and profiled the eight people who were killed, using newspaper archives and websites like yours to tell their stories. Boys running and screaming in pain and confusion. Sorry to hear he was killed at such a tender age. Bronya Feldmann. He had a true survivors spirit. Years later, my husband worked with a gentlemen named Pat, who lost his leg in the event. But because of public interest in the subject and to further document an important day in the history of the San Fernando Valley, I went ahead with the project, striving to keep the tone respectful content and comments. It was very low. And then one of the guys pointed to the northeast and we caught sight of the F89 going down at probably a 45 degree angle and appeared to crash into the foothills(I think I heard later that it ended up in the La Tuna Canyon area). The auditorium doors can be heard slamming open from the concussion of the crash. Maybe Richard was with us. To be honest even after sheeding tears i still cant stop whenever i think about these kids. Ah, the good old days. To be honest i know it might be a burden for you but at the same time it will spread the knowledge about this plane crash even more. I owned a guitar, at any rate. A fine man whose life seemed way too short. When youre thankful that you were blown into a pool of hot airplane oil rather than being allowed to continue on your chosen path. John 3:16 Today is the 57th anniversary of the plane crash; I think about it every January 31st. Ive heard from many that the school staff handled the situation exceptionally well. I listened to the recording of the DC-7B comming down. I think we all kind of looked at each other not believing what we had just witnessed, it seemed completely surreal. My name is Nick Waite and I have managed to avoid being too public about the Pacoima plane crash (because it is not a very happy place to go). Perhaps he was on his way to a memorial service at the school. By the way, Im not sure how your comment wound up appearing as if it came from me, but Ill look into it. INCLUDING MY BROTHER AND I, WE WERE IN THE AUDITORIUM, HE WAS GRADUATING AND I WAS IN B-9. Eight people on the ground in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet. Oddly enough, I dont think I actually heard the tape until I was well into my teens. Thanks for commenting and for the attaboy. I was glad to hear this recording of the sound. Mark Littleton. Did you live on OBeck or Oback??? Thanks for your comment. Mike Russell, I posted my query a few years back, and Id like to post again in case there are new people following this thread now. I assume you went to Pacoima after Terra Bella. How odd and frightening that you too forgot your coat on the gym field that awful day. Lana(Brosamle) Hale. On January 31, 1957, a 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 Junior High School located in Pacoima, a suburban area in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California . Your comment is the first wide-angle account written here. I have your email address here. See more from the Los Angeles Times archives here. The fire bells started ringing and we were led outside. I am now teaching disaster response to emergency services and, with your permission, would like to utilize the recording in my classes. I remember, Rustys dad ran for political office. Who knows? I suppose he planned to use the tape to help critique the performances in preparation for the coming real graduation for the parents. I was assigned a family with a 16 year old girl who had run away from home. The plane crash last month wasn't the first for Pacoima residents. At 10:15 a.m., the Douglas Aircraft Co. DC-7B aircraft left Santa Monica Airport on its first test flight. A third gravely injured student died two days later in a local hospital. But that day seems indelibly etched into the brains of those who were there, including my sister and father. He had been working in the motor pool when the Air Base was alerted about the crash. On January 31, 1957, a Douglas DC-7Boperated by Douglas Aircraft Companywas involved in a mid-air collisionwith a United States Air ForceNorthrop F-89 Scorpionand crashed into the schoolyard of Pacoima Junior High Schoollocated in Pacoima, a suburban area in the San Fernando Valleyof Los Angeles, California. I dont remember hearing the explosion but I ran over to the windows and remember seeing the black smoke and a lot of debris twirling in the air. I think the last time I saw him was on stage together with an offshoot of the Showmen we opened for Eric Burton and the Animals at the Carousel Theater in, uh, Covina, I think. He was a captain in the US Army Air Force. Small wonder, it sounds like it was a mini-Armageddon. Thanks for commenting. I always remembered it in my mind, but this was the first time I heard it againamazing, its just the way I remembered. I know three students died. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Embarrassingly enough, Ive never really thought about its continuation as a free, public-accessible document after Ive shuffled into the Great Beyond, or at least failed to maintain my account here for some other, less dramatic reason. having listened to the recording it was chilling but i cant imagine what it would look like if it was done in the animation of the Canadian documentary series mayday where youd see the collision and the dc-7 breaking up before hitting the ground. I think this makes you my homey, Susan. First, when I was in the room with Lloyd Hopkins he told me we were running to get behind the handball wall. I was a little hesitant to post it at first because I didnt want to remind the families of that horrible day in such a real way. Yeah. Certainly less frightening, but just as capable of creating lasting, disturbing impressions the sight of two aircraft plummeting to their doom and the human cost implied, would be enough to sear into anyones brain. At least, I hope so. I remember how frightened she was about it. Our big issues revolved around determine which patients should be transported first and how much treatment should be done at the scene prior to transport. Yeah, it seems kids of the Cold War era were so extensively drilled with drop and cover that they just naturally assumed the explosion was the Rooskies unloading nuclear hell on Pacoima. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Back then, my dad moonlighted as a news broadcaster at KGIL and, I believe, one of the radio network affiliates. Terry Brown. I am sure she did this out of pure fear and not knowing what to expect. Debris on the Pacoima Junior High School Athletic Field. Russ, thanks for the time and effort to post and manage this thread. But the recording captured the sound it made as if it were yesterday. But i have a question. I actually ended up on this page because i had a nightmare about me sitting in a plaine while it crashed in my school, and first when i google it i ended up on this page : http://dreammoods.com/cgibin/dreamdictionarysearch.pl?method=exact&header=dreamsymbol&search=plane about dream symnols interpretation, and actually its no wonder it crashedinto school since i feel so streesed about my exams and getting accepted into a university. You lived on Van Nuys Blvd. I myself am from europe and didnt no anything about this incident before my little exam/school related nightmare, and if there was not written anything about it on the internet i would never ever have known anything about what happened in in 1957, i dont even know where carlifonia is on a map, so i think your story is really reaching out to people. I just checked it on my iPad and it played fine. \pard\pardeftab720\sl400\partightenfactor0 Thanks for the opportunity. Just one more comment, January 31, 1957 was my thirteen birthday; one I will never forget. I remember that I left my classroom and ran around the building and into the field. On January 31, 1957, a DC-7B transport plane collided in mid-air with a Northrop F-89J Scorpion jet trainer plane and the debris fell to earth on the Pacoima Junior High School playground where about 220 boys were just ending their day's athletic activities. The most vivid memory I have of that day was of my moms worry (her husband and daughter were at Pacoima JH that day). Thanks for commenting, Anthony. I had chills up my spine when I heard your recording, like it was yesterday. I was 6 years old at that time and I still have my class photos of May 1956 and 1957 if anyone is interested. I think dad had given Paul a copy of the tape back then. Two students were struck and killed by this wreckage and debris. And yes, you have my permission to use the audio in your classes. The fire seemed to be out, but things were still smoking. (LogOut/ Do not know which branch. Gary. Thanks for writing and for your nice words about Evan. I was afraid the page might draw disaster-as -entertainment types a la National Enquirer. But, to the very contrary, the commenters on the Pacoima pages have been thoughtful, smart and honest sometimes, painfully honest. As you are probably aware, many credit your father for managing to avoid nearby buildings and preventing a much larger calamityyes, thank you Russ, for adding to the story! She was in the church office with her 18-month-old daughter, Kathy. My family was two houses from yours. I read that many people wrote that the school has done nothin to remember the accident, and i want to really tell you Russ Buchanan what a great thing you are doing. Im so glad you were able to remember the coachs name Coach Vardanien. Had children there if it were yesterday 1957 if anyone is interested bungalow classroom backed up the. 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Offspring of those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it the image of a hunk metal.

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