Plane Afire; Falls; 30 Die

The following is a newspaper article reporting on the doomed American Airlines Flight 476 which crashed August 4th, 1955 just shy of the runway at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. There were no survivors. It was printed in the Chicago Tribune, August 5, 1955. For more newspaper articles concerning this flight please see: "AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 476 AUGUST 4, 1955", 30 Killed In Flaming Airliner", "Pilot Had 4 Children"

Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Aug. 4 (AP)--An American Airlines Convair, with one of its wings burned off and desperately trying for an emergency landing carried 30 persons to a flaming death on this military reservation today.

There were no survivors. Among the dead were four Chicagoans.

The two engine plane crashed in woods not far from the reservation's housing area where about 5,000 persons live.

Rescue workers, hampered for hours by intense heat from the wreckage and burning underbrush, finally recovered all the bodies. Fewer than a third of the bodies could be readily identified; the rest were charred beyond recognition.

Pilot Struggles to Land

The 27 passengers and three crewmen included eight women, two children and a Catholic priest.

Witnesses said veteran pilot Capt. Hugh Barron of Tulsa, Okla., fought desperately to glide his crippled plane onto the military airstrip for an emergency landing even as one of the wings dropped off in flames.

The plane plummeted in flames a quarter-mile from where the wing burned off.

Eyewitnesses at the housing area told how the stricken plane roar overhead, only a few hundred feet above the ground.

"At first we thought he (the pilot) would make it," said Beverly Streeter, a WAC private from Asbury Park, N. J.

"Then we heard muffled explosions. Parts seemed to be dropping from the plane. We lost sight of it after that."

Near Landing Filed

Over Lebanon, 30 miles away, smoke had been seen pouring from one of the engines.

The heavily wooded area where the plane crashed was only one-half of a mile short of the post landing field. But the terrain was so rugged it took bulldozers two hours to slash a temporary road to the scene.

Between 150 and 200 soldiers joined in fighting the forest fire which spread over a one-third square mile as a result of the crash.

The Convair had taken off from Springfield, Mo., only a short time earlier. It was winging its way from Tulsa, Okla., to La Guardia airport, New York, via Chicago, under clear skies.

Seeks Emergency Landing

Suddenly one of the engines caught fire. Capt. Barron radioed that the No. 2 (right) engine was afire and he was goin to attempt an emergency landing.

An onlooker said the plane barely cleared the reservation administration buildings at a height of about 200 feet. One wing was tipped downward. Seconds later if fell off. And then came the flaming crash.

The priest aboard was the Rev. George L. Krock, 47, a Roman Catholic missionary and member of the Maryknoll order who recently returned from Guatemala where he was assigned in 1950.

With Barron who had been with American since 1942, were First Officer William G. Gates, also of Tulsa, and Stewardess Thelma Ruth Ballard of Salisbury, N.C.

Another American Airlines plane, also a Convair, crashed last March 20 with the loss of 13 lives in coming in for a landing at the Springfield airport, 80 miles southwest of here.

(Capt. Barron was the central figure in a dramatic crash landing at Glenview naval air station last November. His Convair, with 43 persons aboard, including Mrs. William Stratton, wife of Gov. Stratton of Illinois, circled Chicago for 68 minutes while its crew struggled to release the right main landing gear. Then with its fuel supply almost exhausted, the Convair crash landed on the jet runway at Glenview. The airplane rolled on its left landing gear for 4,000 feet before the right wing tip dipped and dragged, and the plane came to a stop. None of the passengers was hurt.)

Pilot Had Four Children

The following is a newspaper article reporting on the doomed American Airlines Flight 476 which crashed August 4th, 1955 just shy of the runway at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. There were no survivors. It was printed in the Florence County News, August 5, 1955.


NEW YORK, Aug. 4 (AP) Capt. HUGH C. BARRON, pilot of the American Airlines Convair plane which crashed today at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo., killing all 30 persons aboard, was the father of four children.
The 46-year-old flier, American Airlines officials here said, joined the line in 1942 after owning and operating a flying school at Macon, Ga. He was born in Laurens County, Ga., and lived at Tulsa, Okla.
Other crew members aboard the plane were:
First Officer WILLIAM G. GATES, 35, of Tulsa. Born at Tyrone, Pa., he had been with American Airlines since 1945.
Stewardess THELMA RUTH BALLARD, 21, a native of Salisbury, N. C., but now of Tulsa, was graduated only last May from the airline's school for stewardess at Chicago. She has a sister, MRS. G. O. BARGER, of 133 Jackson Homes, Charlotte, N. C. Her mother is MRS. MAUDE BALLARD of Salisbury.

Florence Morning News South Carolina 1955-08-05

AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 476 AUGUST 4, 1955

I recently learned of a horrible tragedy that took place on Fort Leonard Wood, MO. A little after 12:30 p.m., August 4th, 1955, a plane fell out of the sky. The plane was on fire as it began it's fatal descent. As it came careening toward the ground, the plane clipped a tree line, and ripped a wing off. The pilot had intended to "glide" to the military reservations runway, but was not able to do so with his plane so badly crippled. All 30 souls aboard the plane perished. No injuries were reported on the ground. This tragedy could have been compounded had the plane crashed into the Army Housing area, only 3/4 of a mile from the crash site. It was reported that between 150 and 200 soldiers fought the ensuing fire for hours.

I will post more details as I learn more about this American Airlines disaster.

30 KILLED IN FLAMING AIRLINER

The following is a newspaper article reporting on the doomed American Airlines Flight 476 which crashed August 4th, 1955 just shy of the runway at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. There were no survivors.

FT. LEONARD WOOD, Mo., Aug. 4 (AP) “ An American Airlines two-engine plane desperately trying for an emergency landing with one engine afire, crashed in flames on this military reservation today, carrying 30 persons to their death.
The blazing ship smashed off a wing on a wooded hilltop and crashed its fuselage into a deep, brush-tangled ravine, starting a forest fire that still was burning four hours later.
Capt. R. D. SINEX, camp public information officer, said 18 bodies had been recovered. Capt. H. B. BRACEY, an investigations officer, said he had counted 21 bodies and others apparently were hidden in the charred debris.
The spot where the plane crashed was just three-fourths of a mile short of the post landing field, it was trying to reach. But the terrain was so rugged, bulldozers did not succeed in slashing a temporary road to the spot until two hours later.
Capt. BRACEY fixed the time of the crash at 12:30 p. m. CST. The bulldozers finished cutting an access road shortly before 4 p. m.
Between 150 and 200 soldiers were still fighting the forest fire late today.
Some of the bodies were thrown some distance from the wrecked plane and escaped the flames. Maj. WARREN PAULEY, aviation officer at the fort, reported.
Ft. Leonard Wood is 130 miles southwest of St. Louis, on the edge of the foothills of the Ozark Mountains.
The big Convair had taken off from Springfield, Mo., only a short time earlier. It was winging its way from Tulsa, Okla., to Syracuse, N. Y., under clear, blue skies.
Suddenly one of the engines caught fire. Veteran pilot Capt. HUGH BARRON of Tulsa radioed that the plane was afire and he was going to attempt an emergency landing.
PAULEY said the plane barely cleared the reservation administration buildings at a height of about 200 feet. One wing was tipped downward. Seconds later it was torn off. And then the flaming crash.
The stricken plane, streaming a plume of flame from one engine, was seen by residents of a housing area five miles from the crash scene as it flew low above their homes in its desperate bid for a safe landing. These witnesses variously estimated the plane's height at 200 to 500 feet.
American Airlines at St. Louis reported there were 27 passengers aboard, including two children, in addition to the three crewmen. Twenty-one of the passengers had boarded the plane at nearby Springfield.
"The pilot was lined up for the runway", PAULEY reported," and he crashed about one-half mile short of the runway, roughly three quarters of a mile from the housing area of the post."
A wing was ripped from the fuselage as it thundered into the trees. Fire spread over one-third of a square mile of brush and trees.
The Army rushed crash crews and firefighters to the scene but they were turned back by the searing flames. A bulldozer was moved in to root out a road to the burning wreckage so fire equipment could be brought up.
The plane crashed at 12:23 p. m. CST. It was due at St. Louis at 12:35 p. m. CST but it already had indicated to the airfield there that it was coming in late. Estimated arrival time at the St. Louis field had been posted as 12:53 p. m. CST.
With BARRON, who had been with American since 1942, were First Officer WILLILAM G. GATES, also of Tulsa, and the stewardess, THELMA RUTH BALLARD of Salisbury, N. C. The Missouri state highway patrol office at nearby Rolla, just before the crash, received a radio call to watch for a commercial airliner in trouble.
Minutes later the highway patrol heard a military police patrol calling its headquarters:"The plane crashed and is now burning."
Witnesses said BARRON obviously was attempting to stretch his glide with the burning plane to reach the military landing strip. But he found it impossible as the faltering plane plunged into the trees, setting fire to them and the brush around.
The plane, with a 40-passenger capacity, had made stops at Joplin and Springfield in Missouri. It also had scheduled stops at Chicago, Cleveland and Buffalo, N. Y., in addition to St. Louis.
Military police threw up a cordon around the crash scene, enforcing maximum security. Spectators were ordered out of the area.