The Unluckiest Date in Aviation - July 17th, a dark day to fly.

There are certain dates in the year which seem to bring coincidences, synchronicities and bad luck, July 17th is one of those dark days for the aviation industry, both military and commercial. More air crashes and incidents have occurred on July 17th over the years than on any other date, including the infamous TWA Flight 800 and MH-17 flights. Settle in for an exhaustive (exhausting?!) run-through which makes the mind boggle, and I have missed out so many smaller incidents!

1935 - Iran

A ‘Douglas DC-2-115E’ named ‘Maraboe’ owned by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines crashed on take-off from Bushehr Airport, the 12 people on board (4 crew and 8 passengers) escaped unhurt before the plane caught fire.

1943 - Incidents involving United States Navy and Army Air Force.

• U.S Navy ‘Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina’ aircraft took off from Henderson Field to undertake an anti-shipping search amd patrol operation, at 1am the port engine caught fire and the airplane landed in the sea just off Vella Lavella Island. All 13 on board survived.

• U.S Navy ‘Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina’ disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico during a military exercise, it was never found and is classed as missing with 8 personnel on board.

• Grenada - ‘Douglas C-53 Skytrooper (DC-3)’ owned by the United States Army Air Force suffered a mid-air collision with a Douglas C-47-DL (DC-3) also owned by the USAAF. The wing of one aircraft collided with the fuselage of the other, locking the planes together resulting in the crash and loss of 10 lives.

1945 - India

• ‘Consolidated C-109 Liberator Express’ aircraft owned by the United States Army Air Force was reported missing after taking off from the Jorhat-Rowriah Airport. The plane was part of the 1330 Army Air Base Unit, Air Transport Command and had 4 crew members on board at the time of its disappearance, no explanation was ever given.The wreckage was eventually found decades later on October 22, 2007 at an elevation of 8227 feet.

  Mindoro Island, Philippines

• A ‘Curtiss C-46D-10-CU Commando’ aircraft owned by the USAAF crashed transporting cargo. The airplane hit a mountain on the north-western tip of Mindoro Island in bad weather conditions, 8 crew were lost.

1946 - Ecuador

A ‘Curtiss C46-D-10-CUD-Commando’ scheduled passenger flight crashed on approach 1,6 km from Cuenca Airport killing all 30 people on board. After attempting to land, the pilot carried out a ‘go-around’, the aircraft didn’t gain enough height and tragically crashed into a hill.

1950 - India

Indian National Airways airplane ‘Douglas C-47A-90-DL (DC-3)’ crashed en-route to Srinagar Airport during turbulence roughly 10km from Pathankot. All occupants 22 were killed.

1951 - Egypt

An R.A.F ‘Vickers Valetta C.1’ was destroyed after an issue with a propeller forced the crew to make an emergency belly-landing, all crew survived.

1953 - USA

A U.S Navy operated ‘Fairchild R4Q-2 Flying Boxcar (C-119F)’ just after take-off from Milton-Whiting Field, where it had stopped to refuel while transporting Reserve Officers' Training Corps students from summer training in Texas. Tragically 44 of the 46 persons on board were killed.

1955 - USA

Braniff International Airways owned ‘Convair CV-340-32’ crashed on approach to Chicago-Midway Airport killing 22 of the 43 people on board. The crew had requested a weather report which stated half mile visibility, the Convair descended too low and collided with a sign, then crashed through the airport boundary fence in flames and came to a stop.

1958 - Argentina

• A ‘Douglas C-47A-75-DL Skytrain’ crashed on take-off at Río Cuarto Airport following an engine failure, no fatalities were reported.

  Dominican Republic

• 2 people were killed when a ‘Curtiss C-46A-60-CK Commando’ plane crashed on take-off destined for Miami. It was reported that the aircraft stalled while climbing.

1960 - Jamaica

A Cuban Aviation owned ‘Vickers Viscount’ aircraft was hijacked after leaving Havana, when the captain (!) drew a gun and forced the co-pilot to divert to Jamaica. He claimed political asylum as a "refugee" from the Castro Government. Nobody was hurt in the incident.

1963 - Laos

An Air America ‘Curtiss C-46F-1-CU Commando’ cargo plane crashed into a hillside in fog during a supply dropping mission in Northern Laos, all 6 crew died.

1965 - Japan

Japan Maritime Self Defence Force owned ‘Lockheed P2V-7 Neptune’ aircraft crashed into the ocean 70 miles southeast of Tokyo following a fire on board, all 11 crew perished.

1967 - USA

United States Air Force ‘Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker’ crashed on take-off after the plane over rotated and stalled. 1 of the 5 people on board died.

1968 - Cuba

A‘McDonnell Douglas DC-8 plane was hijacked after leaving Los Angeles International Airport bound for Miami, Somewhere over Texas, the hijacker pulled out a hand grenade (later proved to be a fake) and a pistol and demanded to be flown to Cuba. The aircraft stopped to refuel in New Orleans before continuing to Cuba. No casualties.

1973 - Norway

A really lucky escape for the 60 people on board the ‘Convair CV-640’ which landed/crashed at Tromso airport. It is reported that the plane landed heavily, bounced and came to rest nose-down with it’s landing gear partially collapsed … just 15 meters from the end of the runway!

1980 - United Kingdom

62 passengers and crew avoided disaster when the ‘Convair CV-640’ they were travelling on from Spain to Exeter, emergency landed a few miles short of Exeter airport near the village of Ottery St. Mary in Devon. Luckily the pilot knew the area and managed to find a safe landing site in a small grassy valley. On landing the fuel tanks were empty. The cause of the incident was found to be a combination of unreliable fuel gauges and the crew’s belief that they had enough fuel on board.

1983 - Cuba

Another hijacking! This time the 107 occupants of the Delta Airlines Boeing 727 en-route from Miami to Tampa were subjected to three hijackers brandishing knives and aerosol cans, a flight attendant was held with a knife to her throat otherwise there were no casualties. The plane diverted to Cuba as requested, where the three were taken into custody.

1994 - Martinique

6 people were killed when an ‘IRMA/Pilatus Britten-Norman BN-2B-26 Islander’ belonging to Air Martinique, lsf Trans Island Air crashed into a hillside on approach to Fort de France-Lamentin Airport.

1996 - TWA Flight 800 USA

Trans World Airlines’ Boeing 747-131 headed for Paris, carrying 230 people exploded just after taking off from JFK International Airport killing everyone on board. The body of the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near the coast of Long Island. An extensive investigation concluded that the probable cause was a center-wing fuel tank explosion, likely ignited by an electrical spark.

Kenya 5 crew members killed when a ‘de Havilland Canada DHC-5D Buffalo’ operated by the Tanzanian People's Defence Force crashed after take-off from Nairobi. The plane had been damaged and repaired a month before but it isn’t known if that was a factor.

1997 - Indonesia

28 of 50 persons on board the ‘Fokker F-27 Friendship 600’ died when it crashed on approach to Bandung-Husein Sastranegara Airport. After smoke was seen coming from an engine the crew attempted an emergency landing but the aircraft clipped roofs and a wall of a housing complex and crashed into a field.

1998 - Eritrea

Air Sofia, lsf Ukrainian Cargo Airways owned ‘Ilyushin Il-78’ cargo plane crashed on approach to Bourgas Airport after colliding with a hill killing all 10 on board.

2000 - United Kingdom

• CityFlyer Express flight 8106 was hijacked en-route to Gatwick Airport from Zurich. The hijacker was armed with a large pair of scissors and held a flight attendant by her hair with the blades to her throat. He apparently was upset over having failed to obtain asylum in Britain. He claimed to have a bomb and threatened to detonate it if not granted asylum. During the planes descent, the pilot left the cockpit, convinced the man to release the flight attendant, and calmed him down. The plane made an emergency landing at Gatwick and went to a remote area of the airport, where the hijacker was detained. No casualties.

• India

  A ‘Boeing 737-2A8 Advanced’ aircraft operated by Alliance Air crashed after losing control on approach to Patna Airport killing 55 of the 58 people on board plus 5 on the ground.

 2002 - Nepal

4 occupants of the ‘de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300’ owned by Skyline Airways died when the aircraft crashed into a hill shortly after take-off in bad weather.

2007 - Brazil

All 187 passengers and crew plus another 12 people on the ground were killed when the ‘Airbus A320-233’ operated by TAM Linhas Aéreas crashed while landing at São Paulo-Congonhas Airport. It overshot the runway colliding with a building then burst into flames, the crash became the worst aviation disaster in the country’s history.

2014 - Ukraine - Flight MH17

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was travelling over Ukraine on it suddenly disappeared from radar.

All 283 passengers (including 80 children) and 15 crew were killed.

The plane was brought down after being hit by a Russian Buk missile over eastern Ukraine, an investigation by the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) concluded in October 2015.

2015 - Greece

A Canadair CL-215-1A10 firefighting plane was in service near Faraklo when it had technical problems and was forced to land sustaining substantial damage, there were however, no injuries.

2023 - Poland

A ‘Cessna 208B Grand Caravan’ operated by Skydive Warsaw crashed into a hangar during part of a training flight - 1 of the 3 people on board died as well as 5 people on the ground.

Scores of aviation incidents happen every year of course, but there is a strangely high amount that occur on July 17th. Lets hope this year passes without incident, and we remember those lost in tragedies of years gone by.

Photo by Fotis on Unsplash

If you would like to support this blog with a small but very much appreciated donation, you can Buy Me A Coffee.

The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 - Disaster hits Boston.

January 15th 1919 was an unseasonably mild day, by lunchtime, Boston’s North End was full of people out enjoying the weather as well as lots of workers going about their business. At around 12.30 - 1.00pm a low rumble could be heard, many assumed it was a train or heavy vehicle, but a few minutes later the ground shook and the rumble turned into a roar. 

Disaster struck when a massive 50 foot tank of industrial grade molasses burst, sending 2.3 million U.S gallons of thick, sticky liquid through the streets at terrifying speeds of 35 miles per hour killing 21 people and injuring 150 more. The wave was reported at being around 25 feet high at it’s peak.

When the flood happened, it had such speed and energy that it moved buildings from their foundations, knocked the elevated train tracks down, lifted trucks and vehicles, throwing them into walls and suffocated people and horses where they fell.

The Elevated Train Tracks. Wired article, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Heroic rescue efforts happened immediately, cadets from the ‘USS Nantucket’ which was docked nearby, nurses from the Red Cross and the Boston Police department hurried to the scene to be met by an unimaginable task. The viscous and sticky nature of the molasses made getting to victims incredibly difficult. As well as drowning in the liquid, people had been thrown long distances, crushed by falling buildings and had been injured by large pieces of debris which had flown through the air. Conditions grew worse as night fell and temperatures dropped which caused the often foot-deep molasses to thicken, trapping people further where many asphyxiated. It has been noted that if the tragedy had struck in the warmth of summer the death toll would likely be much lower due to the liquid being thinner and able to spread much further away from the site.

The clean-up operation was an incredibly difficult job. Molasses had coated everything in its path making the removal of debris and damage nearly impossible. Salt-water from a fire boat in the harbour was used to break down the sugar syrup and sand could help soak some of it up. As well as the site itself, molasses had been tracked further away by vehicles and people involved in the rescue effort and clean-up so a vast area of the city had to be attended to. It was said that all of Boston was sticky - roads and pavements, subway train seats, shops, hospitals, payphones and people’s homes. Boston’s North End was ‘brown for months’ and residents reported the sweet smell for years after.

The molasses tank before it ruptured.The Bostonian Society, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The disaster happened at the Purity Distilling Company, 529 Commercial Street, where a huge amount of molasses was stored at the harbourside plant, unloaded from ships ready to be transferred to the Purity ethanol plant in Cambridge, Massachusetts and other distilleries. The molasses could be fermented to produce ethanol - a key ingredient in alcoholic drinks and munitions. It seems that several factors contributed to the tank rupture and the following disaster:

Firstly, the unseasonably warm weather. Temperatures has risen from well below freezing the night before, a fresh, large load of molasses had been delivered by ship the previous day which had been warmed to aid in transferring it, one theory is that the thermal expansion of the older, colder liquid already in the tank led to the tank bursting. Others speculated that the levels of fermentation inside the tank led to it failing.

It also seems the tank wasn’t fit for purpose from the day it was built. It was constructed quickly in 1915 to meet the increasing demand for industrial alcohol (distilled from molasses) to make dynamite and explosives for World War 1. Local residents knew it leaked, in fact local children would take cups and buckets to fill from the drips. When complaints were made, the Purity Distilling Company painted the tank brown to disguise the leaks. As well as questions about the integrity of the rivets used to hold the panels together, the steel body of the tank was not thick enough to safely hold that much volume and weight. A 2014 investigation found that the steel was half as thick as it should have been, and the chemical composition of the walls made them liable to cracking. Basic safety tests such as initially filling the tank with water to identify any leaks prior to use had not been done. U.S Industrial Alcohol who owned the tank was ultimately found liable.

In the aftermath, 119 people brought a class-action lawsuit against USIA who initially claimed the tank had been blown up by anarchists against the making of munitions, but this was disproven and the company’s responsibility was established after three years of investigation and hearings. The lawsuit is seen as a milestone in improving modern corporate regulations.

Thanks for reading, if you would like to support Moonlit Myths you can 'Buy Me A Coffee' :)