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operations were halted temporarily and efforts were started to raise the wreckage to the surface. The engines came up first. The fuselage, which rolled up like a ball on impact with the water, will not be raised until morning, but the Navy craft used searchlights to continue the hunt for more bodies through the night.
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Flight 493 departed Miami at 11:09 a.m. that day and was cleared to climb to 4,000 feet on a direct heading to Key West. Approximately ten minutes later, the SNB-1 took off from Key West NAS for simulated instrument training. Although the flight was not cleared to a specific altitude or heading,
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Witnesses' accounts of the collision varied. Mrs. Lucille Cleary, wife of a Navy pilot, said she believed the tail of the transport was on fire before the planes rammed. Other spectators said they saw no fire on either plane. George and
Charles Faraldo, operators of a Key West Flying Service, looked
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Although the Navy plane was engaged in blind flying practice, Capt. R. S. Quackenbush Jr., commanding officer of the Boca Chica Naval Air
Station here, said that in such cases "one of the pilots has clear visual observation at all times." The DC-4 fell just offshore from the "Little White House"
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The four-motored transport, with 34 passengers and five crewmen, power-dived into the ocean a half-mile offshore at a speed estimated by onlookers at 600 miles an hour and sank in water 20 feet deep. The Navy plane, a twin-engined
Beechcraft with a crew of four on a routine instrument-training
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Rescue boats swarmed to the scene so quickly that the first body from the Navy plane was recovered within ten minutes and the first from the airliner within 15 minutes. By 11 p.m., Navy divers had brought up 19 bodies from the submerged wreckage of the transport. Shortly before dark, diving
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Hundreds of sunbathers on the beaches were shocked to attention by the explosive noise of the collision and saw the planes plummet into the sea. The transport splashed columns of water fifty feet into the air. There was no hope from the beginning that anybody on either plane had survived.
373:, as the weather at the time of the crash was clear and calm. The probable cause of the accident was given by the CAA as a failure on the parts of both air crews to exercise due vigilance in looking for and avoiding conflicting traffic. The CAA also called for a review of
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The plane then went into a tight spiral, the
Faraldos related, but the pilot managed to pull out with full power. Then it went into a straight nose-dive. As it crashed, water spewed so high into the air that they could see it over the treetops at the airport.
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standard instrument training procedures were in place. At 11:49 a.m. Flight 493, heading south, and the SNB-1, heading west, collided over the Key West NAS at an estimated altitude of 4,000 feet.
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An investigation of the crash was started immediately by a naval board of inquiry headed by
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Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1950s
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An asterisk (*) denotes an incident that took place in a U.S. territory, including
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where
President Truman sometimes vacations. He spent three weeks here last month.
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flight, went to pieces as it fell and crashed two miles west of the transport.
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307:, Florida, at the same time. The two aircraft collided in mid-air over
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496:. St. Petersburg, FL. UP. April 26, 1951. p. 1. Archived from
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552:"Raising Shattered Plane Which Claimed 39 in Atlantic Collision"
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Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1951
455:
List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
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219:
A Beechcraft SNB-1 Kansan similar to the accident aircraft
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Accidents and incidents involving the
Beechcraft Model 18
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1340:Accidents and incidents involving the Douglas DC-4
532:. Sydney, Australia. AP. April 27, 1951. p. 3
490:"Airliner and Navy Plane Collide; 43 Persons Die"
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46:but its sources remain unclear because it lacks
1335:Mid-air collisions involving military aircraft
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736:Rio do Sal Linhas Aéreas Paulistas C-47 crash
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1315:Airliner accidents and incidents in Florida
1350:Cubana de Aviación accidents and incidents
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841:
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561:. Rome, GA. INS. April 26, 1951. p. 1
450:Cubana de Aviación accidents and incidents
213:
143:
470:Aircraft Accident Report on the collision
77:Learn how and when to remove this message
1252:Braniff International Airways Flight 542
1082:MacArthur Airport United Airlines crash
311:, killing all 43 aboard both aircraft.
149:A DC-4 similar to the accident aircraft
1370:April 1951 events in the United States
1330:Mid-air collisions involving airliners
1307:
746:Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 3505
1141:United States Air Force Flight 441/13
882:Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501
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613:
1199:Westover Air Force Base KC-135 crash
876:Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 307
18:
13:
1123:Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2
894:Fairfield-Suisun Boeing B-29 crash
14:
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1135:Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 304
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941:Continental Charters Flight 44-2
806:Continental Charters Flight 44-2
642:Aviation accidents and incidents
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23:
1129:Grand Canyon mid-air collision
1:
1270:Allegheny Airlines Flight 371
1222:Southeast Airlines Flight 308
1205:Northeast Airlines Flight 258
1170:Northeast Airlines Flight 285
1164:Northeast Airlines Flight 823
958:American Airlines Flight 6780
917:Cubana de Aviación Flight 493
888:Myrtle Beach USAF C-46D crash
706:Cubana de Aviación Flight 493
461:External links and references
296:, Cuba, on April 25, 1951. A
278:Cubana de Aviación Flight 493
90:Cubana de Aviación Flight 493
1360:History of Key West, Florida
1355:Cuba–United States relations
1264:National Airlines Flight 967
1258:Piedmont Airlines Flight 349
1246:American Airlines Flight 514
1234:American Airlines Flight 320
1088:American Airlines Flight 476
1064:American Airlines Flight 711
1052:Cincinnati mid-air collision
1029:American Airlines Flight 723
1011:National Airlines Flight 470
976:American Airlines Flight 910
964:National Airlines Flight 101
686:Atlantic C-124 disappearance
7:
1193:Capital Airlines Flight 300
1100:United Air Lines Flight 629
1094:United Air Lines Flight 409
929:United Air Lines Flight 615
923:United Air Lines Flight 610
911:National Airlines Flight 83
666:National Airlines Flight 83
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367:Civil Aeronautics Authority
10:
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1240:Capital Airlines Flight 75
1187:Capital Airlines Flight 67
1017:Delta Air Lines Flight 318
756:United Airlines Flight 615
726:United Airlines Flight 610
305:Naval Air Station Key West
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1158:Pacoima mid-air collision
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982:Mount Gannett C-124 crash
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935:Miami Airlines C-46 crash
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786:Miami Airlines C-46 crash
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530:The Sydney Morning Herald
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1287:This list is incomplete.
32:This article includes a
776:Novosibirsk Il-12 crash
523:"Airliner in Collision"
484:Aviation Safety Network
467:Civil Aeronautics Board
301:Beechcraft SNB-1 Kansan
228:Beechcraft SNB-1 Kansan
61:more precise citations.
1228:The Day the Music Died
994:Moses Lake C-124 crash
359:
16:1951 mid-air collision
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1076:Pan Am Flight 845/26
1023:USMC R4Q NROTC crash
696:Ringway Dakota crash
494:St. Petersburg Times
480:Accident description
92:US Navy SNB-1 Kansan
1297:prior to statehood.
1276:San Diego F3H crash
984:(November 22 1952)*
824:► 1952
818:1950 ◄
596:24.5352°N 81.7943°W
592: /
503:on January 24, 2013
375:air traffic control
371:visual flight rules
93:
1325:Mid-air collisions
1070:Hawaii R6D-1 crash
990:(November 28 1952)
970:Pan Am Flight 526A
943:(December 29 1951)
937:(December 16 1951)
821:
676:Glitfaxi air crash
354:The New York Times
238:United States Navy
168:Cubana de Aviación
89:
34:list of references
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1301:
1278:(December 4 1959)
1272:(December 1 1959)
1236:(February 3 1959)
1230:(February 3 1959)
988:Tacoma C-54 crash
830:
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796:Misrair Languedoc
716:Pan Am Flight 151
601:24.5352; -81.7943
559:Rome News-Tribune
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124:Key West, Florida
114:Mid-air collision
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1172:(September 1957)
1072:(March 22 1955)*
1031:(September 1953)
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563:. Retrieved
558:
534:. Retrieved
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505:. Retrieved
498:the original
493:
377:procedures.
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286:Douglas DC-4
282:registration
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244:Registration
175:Registration
158:Douglas DC-4
73:
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53:Please help
45:
1201:(June 1958)
1131:(June 1956)
1025:(July 1953)
978:(June 1952)
925:(June 1951)
890:(July 1950)
884:(June 1950)
599: /
67:August 2012
59:introducing
1309:Categories
1242:(May 1959)
1195:(May 1958)
1019:(May 1953)
587:81°47′39″W
584:24°32′07″N
565:2009-11-22
536:2009-11-22
507:2009-11-22
252:Passengers
184:Passengers
572:plaintext
543:plaintext
514:plaintext
268:Survivors
200:Survivors
425:Aviation
381:See also
351:—
309:Key West
234:Operator
164:Operator
133:43 (all)
97:Accident
646: (
644:in 1951
482:at the
474:Archive
401:Florida
387:Portals
298:US Navy
179:CU-T188
110:Summary
55:improve
1295:Hawaii
1291:Alaska
802:Dec 29
792:Dec 22
782:Dec 16
772:Nov 17
762:Nov 15
752:Aug 24
742:Jul 21
732:Jul 12
722:Jun 30
712:Jun 22
702:Apr 25
692:Mar 27
682:Mar 23
672:Jan 31
662:Jan 14
294:Havana
555:(PDF)
526:(PDF)
501:(PDF)
437:1950s
290:Miami
247:39939
40:, or
1293:and
1215:1959
1180:1958
1151:1957
1110:1956
1045:1955
1004:1953
951:1952
904:1951
869:1950
648:1951
413:Cuba
260:Crew
224:Type
192:Crew
154:Type
120:Site
102:Date
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69:)
65:(
51:.
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