The Lockheed Electra, named “City of Memphis,” was on a flight from
New Orleans to
Chicago. After having left New Orleans at 5:30 PM, it proceeded normally to
Jackson;
Memphis; and
St. Louis. It departed St. Louis at 9:52 PM, and was scheduled to arrive in Chicago at 12:55 AM. The aircraft departed St. Louis and proceeded on a northerly track towards the
Missouri River. Five minutes after departure, all radio contact was lost with the aircraft. Chicago and Southern’s company radio controller made repeated attempts to contact the flight, and then notified the Chicago station, informing them of the missing aircraft. “Ben Knobbe, a farmer, said the approach of the plane frightened him as it passed over his home. :”’I had come into the barn for a minute,’ he said, ‘when I heard the motors of the plane roaring wide open. I came out into the yard and saw the plane coming toward the barn.’ :”’It flew so low that it grazed a tall tree. I was afraid it was going to strike the barn. A few minutes later the motors stopped. I went out and looked toward the north. I couldn’t see anything.’” “With the pilot apparently attempting to nose up, the heavy 10-passenger Lockheed-Electra [sic] transport cut a triangular swath across a cornfield before it turned over. Wreckage and bodies were strewn over a radius of 50 feet. A part of the motor dropped out and the left wing was thrown to one side. All but one of the occupants were hurled out of the fuselage and the seats went with them.” “A preliminary investigation by A. S. Koch, Federal aeronautical inspector, indicated the crash was caused by fog. Major R. W. Schroder, chief of the airway inspection service of the
department of commerce, arrived here tonight to assume charge of the inquiry. “‘So far we have not found any evidence of mechanical failure,’ Koch said. ‘The indications are the pilot ran into trouble as a result of a thick ground fog soon after leaving the airport and crashed while attempting the circle back to the field.’” ==References==