Continental Airlines Flight 11

1962 airliner bombing

Continental Airlines Flight 11

A Continental Airlines Boeing 707 similar to the aircraft involved in the crash

Bombing
Date| May 22, 1962
Summary| Suicide bombing (suicide committed as an insurance fraud by a passenger)
Site| Union Township, Putnam County
near Unionville, Missouri, United States
40°32′49.43″N 93°3′28.25″W﻿ / ﻿40.5470639°N 93.0578472°W﻿ / 40.5470639; -93.0578472
Aircraft
Aircraft type| Boeing 707-124
Operator| Continental Airlines
IATA flight No.| CO11
ICAO flight No.| COA11
Call sign| CONTINENTAL 11
Registration| N70775
Flight origin| O'Hare International Airport
Chicago, Illinois
Destination| Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport, Kansas City, Missouri
Occupants| 45
Passengers| 37
Crew| 8
Fatalities| 45
Survivors| 0

Continental Airlines Flight 11, registration N70775, was a Boeing 707 aircraft which exploded in the vicinity of Centerville, Iowa, United States, while en route from O'Hare Airport, Chicago, Illinois, to Kansas City, Missouri, on May 22, 1962. The aircraft crashed in a clover field near Unionville, in Putnam County, Missouri, killing all 45 crew and passengers on board. The investigation determined the cause of the crash was a suicide bombing, committed as insurance fraud.

## Aircraft and crew

[edit]

The aircraft was a Boeing 707-124, registration N70775. It was manufactured on June 16, 1959, and had accumulated a total of 11,945 flight hours. The aircraft was powered by four Pratt & Whitney JT3C-6 engines.

The crew consisted of Captain Fred R. Gray (age 50), First Officer Edward J. Sullivan (41), Flight Engineer Roger D. "Jack" Allen (32) and five flight attendants. Captain Gray was a highly experienced pilot, having accumulated 25,000 flight hours, of which 2,600 were in the 707. First Officer Sullivan had accumulated 14,500 flight hours, of which 600 were in the 707.[1]

## Crash

[edit]

Continental Airlines Flight 11 memorial erected in Unionville, Missouri

The perpetrator, Thomas G. Doty, arrived at the gate just moments before departure.[2]

Flight 11 departed O'Hare at 8:35 p.m. The flight was routine until just before the Mississippi River when it deviated from its filed flight plan to the north to avoid a line of thunderstorms.[3] In the vicinity of Centerville, Iowa, the radar image of the aircraft disappeared from the scope of the Waverly, Iowa, Flight Following Service. At approximately 9:17 p.m. an explosion occurred in the right rear lavatory, resulting in the separation of the tail section from the fuselage.[4] The flight crew initiated the required emergency descent procedures and donned their smoke masks due to the dense fog that formed in the cabin immediately after decompression. Following the separation of the tail, the remaining aircraft structure pitched nose down violently, causing the engines to tear off, after which it fell in uncontrolled gyrations. The fuselage of the Boeing 707, minus the aft 38 feet (12 m), and with part of the left and most of the right wing intact, struck the ground, headed westerly down a 10-degree slope of an alfalfa field.[1]

Witnesses in and around both Cincinnati, Iowa and Unionville reported hearing loud and unusual noises at around 9:20 p.m. Two more saw a big flash or ball of fire in the sky. A B-47 Stratojet bomber flying out of Forbes Air Force Base in Topeka, Kansas was flying at the altitude of 26,500 ft (8,100 m) in the vicinity of Kirksville, Missouri. The aircraft commander saw a bright flash in the sky forward and above his aircraft's position. After referring to his navigation logs, he estimated the flash to have occurred at 9:22 p.m. near the location where the last radar target of Flight 11 had been seen. Most of the fuselage was found near Unionville, but the engines and parts of the tail section, and left wing were found up to six miles (9.7 km) away from the main wreckage.[1]

Of the 45 individuals on board, 44 were dead when rescuers reached the crash site. One passenger, a 27-year-old man from Evanston, Illinois, died of internal injuries at Saint Joseph Mercy Hospital in Centerville, Iowa, an hour and a half after being rescued.[5][6]

## Investigation

[edit]

FBI agents discovered that Doty, a married man with a five-year-old daughter, had purchased a life insurance policy from Mutual of Omaha for $150,000 (roughly equivalent to $1.16 million in 2022), the maximum available; his death would also bring in another $150,000 in additional insurance (some purchased at the airport) and death benefits. Doty was about to appear in court on an armed robbery charge. Doty had purchased six sticks of dynamite shortly before the flight, took them into the lavatory in his briefcase, and ignited them. His motive was that his wife and daughter would collect on the $300,000 of life insurance. His widow attempted to collect on the insurance, but the policy was voided when Doty's death was ruled a suicide.[7]

In July 2010, a memorial was erected near the crash site in Unionville, Missouri on the anniversary of the crash.[8][9]

In May 2012, a special 50th-anniversary memorial service was held in Unionville.

## In popular culture

[edit]

* Flight 11 is dramatized in Aircrash Confidential.[10]
* The event partially inspired Arthur Hailey's novel Airport.[11]

## See also

[edit]

* United States portal
* Aviation portal

* 1962 in aviation
* Aviation safety
* National Airlines Flight 967, U.S. on November 16, 1959, killing 42 (Suspected bombing for insurance fraud)
* National Airlines Flight 2511, US – 1960 in-flight suicide bombing for insurance fraud
* Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108, Canada – 1949 in-flight bombing for murder and insurance fraud
* China Northern Airlines Flight 6136, China – 2002 in-flight arson caused by insurance fraud
* Federal Express Flight 705, US – 1994 attempted in-flight hijacking for insurance fraud that was foiled by the aircraft's crew
* List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
* United Air Lines Flight 629, US – 1955 in-flight bombing for murder and insurance fraud
* Comair Flight 206

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT REPORT;CONTINENTAL AIR LINES, INC. BOEING 707-124, N 70775, NEAR UNIONVILLE, MISSOURI, MAY 22, 1962" (PDF). Repository and Open Science Access Portal; National Transportation Library; United States Department of Transportation. Civil Aeronautics Board. July 26, 1962. pp. 3, 6. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 February 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020. \- Current URL
2. ^ Memorial honors Continental Flight 11 on YouTube
3. ^ "Jet Carrying 45 Crashes in Iowa on Way to Coast". The New York Times. Vol. 111, no. 38, 105. May 24, 1962. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
4. ^ "WRECK INDICATES JET RIPPED APART; C.A.B. Studies Evidence of Sudden Decompression". The New York Times. Vol. 111, no. 38, 106. 25 May 1962.
5. ^ "Unraveling the crash of Flight 11...", Sun Herald
6. ^ "Jet Broke Up at 39,000 ft., Experts Say". Chicago Daily Tribune. Vol. 121, no. 124\. May 24, 1962. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
7. ^ "Passengers were mostly businessmen plus one bomber". KABC-TV. 2010-05-23. Retrieved 2023-07-19.
8. ^ "Flight 11 Memorial Dedication". Putnam County Historical Society. Archived from the original on 6 September 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
9. ^ Riek, Jim (6 November 2008). "A Forgotten Tragedy". KOMU-TV. Archived from the original on May 11, 2010. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
10. ^ Aircrash Confidential (8 December 2019), Continental Airlines Flight 11, retrieved 2024-02-02
11. ^ Fifty years ago this week..., The Pitch, May 23, 2012

## External links

[edit]

* "Jet Crashes-Kills 45 L A. Bound 707 Plummets from Violent Storm". The Desert Sun. Palm Springs, California. 1962-05-23. p. 1.
* DePuy, Charles B. "The untold story of Continental Flight 11." Daily Iowegian at Journal Express. May 22, 2012.
* Bombing description for Continental Flight 11 at the Aviation Safety Network

* v
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Aviation accidents and incidents in 1962 (1962)

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1961  ◄ ► 1963

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Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1960s

1960|

* National Airlines Flight 2511 (January 6 1960)
* Capital Airlines Flight 20 (January 18 1960)
* Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 710 (March 1960)
* Chicago Helicopter Airways Flight 698 (July 1960)
* World Airways Flight 830 (September 1960)*
* Eastern Air Lines Flight 375 (October 4 1960)
* Cal Poly football team (October 29 1960)
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1961|

* Goldsboro B-52 crash (January 24 1961)
* American Airlines Flight 1502 (January 28 1961)
* Yuba City B-52 crash (March 1961)
* United Air Lines Flight 859 (July 11 1961)
* Alaska Airlines Flight 779 (July 21 1961)
* TWA Flight 529 (September 1 1961)
* Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706 (September 17 1961)
* Imperial Airlines Flight 201/8 (November 8 1961)
* Cincinnati Zantop DC-4 crash (November 14 1961)

1962|

* American Airlines Flight 1 (March 1962)
* Continental Airlines Flight 11 (May 1962)
* Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 301 (July 1962)
* United Air Lines Flight 297 (November 23 1962)
* Eastern Air Lines Flight 512 (November 30 1962)

1963|

* Elephant Mountain B-52 (January 1963)
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* Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 293 (June 1963)
* Mohawk Airlines Flight 112 (July 1963)
* Pan Am Flight 214 (December 1963)

1964|

* Savage Mountain B-52 crash (January 1964)
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* Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 (May 1964)
* United Air Lines Flight 823 (July 1964)
* Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114 (November 1964)
* Flying Tiger Line Flight 282 (December 1964)

1965|

* USAF KC-135 Wichita (January 1965)
* Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 (February 1965)
* Pan Am Flight 843 (June 1965)
* Continental Airlines Flight 12 (July 1 1965)
* Allegheny Airlines Flight 604 (July 23 1965)
* United Air Lines Flight 389 (August 1965)
* American Airlines Flight 383 (November 8 1965)
* United Air Lines Flight 227 (November 11 1965)
* Carmel mid-air collision (December 1965)

1966|

* NASA T-38 crash (February 1966)
* American Flyers Airline Flight 280/D (April 1966)
* Braniff International Airways Flight 250 (August 1966)
* West Coast Airlines Flight 956 (October 1966)

1967|

* Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 (March 5 1967)
* TWA Flight 553 (March 9 1967)
* West Coast Airlines Flight 720 (March 10 1967)
* Delta Air Lines Flight 9877 (March 30 1967)
* Mohawk Airlines Flight 40 (June 1967)
* Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 (July 1967)
* Lake Erie skydiving disaster (August 1967)
* TWA Flight 159 (November 6 1967)
* X-15 Flight 3-65-97 (November 15 1967)
* TWA Flight 128 (November 20 1967)

1968|

* Ozark Air Lines Flight 965 (March 1968)
* Braniff International Airways Flight 352 (May 3 1968)
* Los Angeles Airways Flight 841 (May 22 1968)
* Los Angeles Airways Flight 417 (August 1968)
* Northeast Airlines Flight 946 (October 1968)
* Japan Air Lines Flight 2 (November 22 1968)
* Pan Am Flight 281 (November 24 1968)
* Wien Consolidated Airlines Flight 55 (December 2 1968)
* Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 (December 24 1968)
* Pan Am Flight 799 (December 26 1968)
* Ozark Air Lines Flight 982 (December 27 1968)
* North Central Airlines Flight 458 (December 27 1968)

1969|

* Allegheny Airlines Flight 737 (January 6 1969)
* Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 933 (January 13 1969)
* United Air Lines Flight 266 (January 18 1969)
* Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 (February 1969)
* Prinair Flight 277 (March 5 1969)*
* Delta Air Lines Flight 821 (March 25 1969)
* TWA Flight 5787 (July 1969)
* Newton Cessna 172 crash (August 1969)
* Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 (September 1969)
* Mohawk Airlines Flight 411 (November 1969)

This list is incomplete.
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* Flight 11 (1962)
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