Crash of the most beautiful plane of the century - TWA Flight 529

Recreation of flight 529. a Lockheed Constellation (N86511) operated by TWA, a service from Chicago to Las Vegas in 1961. Music: Fading away far away. Don't forget to subscribe :)

[garygrant]

In the mid 50's I was invited to go aboard a connie with tip tanks. A beautiful flight attendant saw me by the fence and invited me aboard. After a tour of the plane and sitting in the cockpit, invited by the Captain, It was at that moment that i decided to be a pilot and flew turbo props, jets and helicopters for 45 years.

[mbnemechek]

My grandfather, Ray McLaughlin, 34 died on this flight when my dad was 8 years old. The biggest tragedy of my dad’s life. Watching this video made a deep impact on me, truly put me in the place of those who were in the crash. I can just imagine, being nearly completely vertical, with items and bags falling on you and you just know it is the end. I hope they all comforted each other in those last moments. RIP TWA flight 529

The first time I watched this, I was bawling. It’s really helped me understand how just one bolt could have taken the plane down. I now have a curiosity and have been studying the crash more, and even plan on going to chicago to see the memorial and meet people who are involved in keeping their memories alive. Thank you for this video, although I hope my dad never finds it.

[billy]

Truly one of the most beautiful planes ever built.

[richarddrum]

Back in 1968 I missed a Connie shuttle flight from DC to Newark, NJ, but years later I toured the inside of a USAF Connie radar plane at Andrews AFB. Beautiful aircraft.

[lewiskemp]

My mom was a stewardess for Eastern Air Lines and loved the Connie. Me too

[mikemumford]

I was a junior in high school and lived about 5 miles northeast of this crash . There was a road right next to the wreckage and I and a couple of friends drove right past it; no roads blocked whatsoever. I remember the biggest piece of the plane that was left was part of the tail section sticking up. The rest of the plane was just pieces scattered around this field. It was a surreal scene I vividly remember 63 years later.

[BillSmith-rxrm]

Fond memories of my youth playing in the park and on the ball fields and hearing these prop engine planes flying overhead on a regular basis. It's a sound you almost never hear today.

[GnomicMaster]

My mom (RIP) was lead avionics technician at Lockheed and she wired every cockpit of the Connies. I got to sit in the pilot's seat one day when I was a kid.

[DISGUYROX]

This plane crashed along side Ill Rte 83 in the western suburb of Clarendon Hills.
Many people walked around IN the crash site(I was one of them).
There was little or no prevention of this at the time.
At lest there were no bodies at the time as they were already removed.
This was one of the most graceful planes ever built.

[thehappiestleprechaun]

I can't imagine how scary it is staring at your eminent death when your plane is crashing. I've had a dozen or so nightmares of being in a plane crash since I started watching channels like these and it's terrifying every time... The ones I don't immediately wake up when the plane crashes, I oddly come out alive.

Rest in peace to the souls on board.

[rvnmedic]

After a tour in Vietnam, I wound up joining the NJ Air National Guard at McGuire AFB. This was in 1971. The unit was the 150 Aeromedical Airlift Squadron and I did training flights as a med tech for 2 years on a part time basis. The unit had Connies. Some of the pilots were WW2 pilot vets. The longest flight I had on one was from NJ to the Azores and return. Did quite a few trips stateside. Built up 200+ hours on them. Had a few inflight fires on the wings with an immediate return to base.

If you are an avid Connie fan, I suggest you read "Tiger in The Sea, The Ditching of Flying Tiger 923 And The Desperate Struggle For Survival" by Eric Lindner. That Connie went down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ireland. The pilot was extremely qualified and a lot of the passengers survived the ordeal in the bitter cold ocean thanks to him. Great recreation, MPC flights. (We used MPC in Vietnam for currency- military payment certificates) Cheers, CMSgt Bob Powell, USAF(Ret)

[rsrs]

I used to watch the triple tail plane from my front yard being stacked up waiting to land at Idlewild (Kennedy) airport. The sound of those four motors reverberating. Very cool. I agree it is a beautiful airplane. Have built several of them in various scales, mostly 1/144 or 1/72.

[michaelreillyesq]

As a kid I thought these planes were so beautiful they took my breath away

[valdez]

This was one of the most beautiful planes ever !
Thanks for the video !

[ellisonlowrimore]

Still the prettiest plane ever built!!

[maryrafuse]

A most beautiful aircraft in its era and still appreciated today. Looking at the ultra modern shape of the A-220 it is the leading passenger aircraft design in our era.

[gurrandoa]

I flew from Frankfurt Rhein Main to McGuire AFB NJ aboard a Connie March 1, 1962.Landed twice in Scotland and Newfoundland for fuel.

[sofiaso]

This accident killed many families, father mother and 5 children, mother and 4 children, father and mother and 2 children. I actually stopped counting, most were family😭😢🥺

[faerieSAALE]

The Connie - The B-17 - The B-29 - The C-118 - The C-97 - were some of the USAF's most good-looking aircraft before the Jets and Turboprops took over. It was a sad day when all of them were sold or scrapped.

[adotintheshark]

Funny thing about these planes. We worked on an EC-121 (the military version of the Super Connie) while I was still in the USAF, and they look kind of gawky when you're close to them. Yet, standing 20 or more feet away they are truly beautiful birds. Also, these planes had compound engines. They used turbo-charging, not to stuff more air into the intake (they also had a supercharger for that) but to return energy back to the crankshaft, thus "compounding".