{{short description|1938 aviation accident}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{coord|37|35|46.74|N|119|29|36.53|W|region:US|display=title}} {{Infobox Aircraft accident | name = TWA Flight 8 | occurrence_type = Accident | image = Douglas DC-2 TWA NC13719 (14168322351).jpg | image_upright = 1.15 | caption = A TWA DC-2, similar to the aircraft involved | date = March 1, 1938 | summary = [[Controlled flight into terrain]] in [[severe weather]] | site = [[Yosemite National Park]], [[Madera County, California|Madera County]], near [[Wawona, California]] | coordinates = | aircraft_type = [[Douglas DC-2]] | aircraft_name = | operator = [[Trans World Airlines|Transcontinental & Western Air]] | tail_number = NC13789 | origin = [[San Francisco, California]] | destination = [[Winslow, Arizona]] | occupants = 9 | passengers = 6 | crew = 3 | fatalities = 9 | survivors = 0 }}
The crash of '''TWA Flight 8''' involved a [[Trans World Airlines|Transcontinental & Western Air]] [[Douglas DC-2]]. On March 1, 1938, during a scheduled [[passenger flight]] from [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]] to [[Winslow, Arizona]], TWA's interstate [[hub airport|hub]], the flight encountered severe weather. The pilot [[radio]]ed his intention to land in nearby [[Fresno, California|Fresno]]. The aircraft subsequently crashed on a mountain in [[Yosemite National Park]], and was found three months later.
== Flight == The aircraft was [[TWA]] plane #327 AC-III,<ref>{{cite journal | title = INCIDENT FILES, Box 133, Accident – March 1, 1938 #1 Fresno, CA – Plane #327 AC-III | journal = TWA Museum Archives 1929-2002, K0453 | place = THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI RESEARCH CENTER-KANSAS CITY }}</ref> NC13789,<ref name="ASN Database">[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19380301-0 ASN Database]</ref> a twin-engine [[Douglas Aircraft Corporation]] DC-2-112 piloted by Captain John Graves, a former [[United States Army Air Corps|Army Air Corps]] pilot who won some measure of fame in 1932 when he located and dropped food to a group of snowbound people in northern Arizona.<ref name="ogden">{{cite web |author=Beitler |first=Stu |date=May 13, 2009 |title=Yosemite National Park, CA Airliner Crash, Mar 1938 |url=https://www.gendisasters.com/california/12691/yosemite-national-park-ca-airliner-crash-mar-1938 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302173933/http://www3.gendisasters.com/california/12691/yosemite-national-park-ca-airliner-crash-mar-1938 |archive-date=March 2, 2012 |access-date=2009-05-24 |website=Gendisasters}}</ref> Crew members on board were the co-pilot, First Officer C. W. Wallace, and stewardess Martha Mae Wilson.
Flight 8 was flying from San Francisco to Winslow, which was a hub connecting TWA's transcontinental [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]]-[[New York City|New York]] route.<ref name="ogden" /> It departed San Francisco in conditions of good visibility, with a cloud ceiling between {{convert|6000|and|7000|ft|m}},<ref name="ogden" /> and had sufficient fuel to last until midnight.<ref name="ogden" /> The accident report list the causes of the disaster as "a change in wind direction and a sharp increase in velocity, unknown to the pilot, together with the pilot's confusion as to his position with reference to the Fresno Radio Range station, which combined to bring about flight over mountainous terrain, ending in a crash at near his reported cruising altitude."<ref name="ASN Database"/>
== Disappearance == Two hours after takeoff, the flight encountered a building weather front that developed into the most severe storm on the West Coast in 64 years. As the flight neared the [[Tehachapi Mountains]] near [[Bakersfield, California]], Captain Graves noticed ice forming on the wings. He advised [[air traffic controller]]s, who ordered him to divert to [[Los Angeles]] due to the deteriorating weather conditions.<ref name="ogden" /> Graves replied that he planned to divert to nearby Fresno due to local weather. At 9:28 PM, he requested a weather update; this was his last transmission received by air traffic control.
== Search efforts == Officials based their search area on the reports of Mrs. C.G. Landry, who was operating the [[Southern California Edison|Edison Electric Company]] power house on [[Huntington Lake]], approximately {{convert|45|mi|km}} northeast of Fresno. She observed the plane at 9:29 PM flying along the [[San Joaquin River]] at an altitude of {{convert|500|ft|m}}.<ref name="ogden" /> The search was concentrated in the snow-covered [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada mountains]] to the east of Fresno.<ref name="ogden" />
Severe storms that lingered throughout the week hampered searches for the missing aircraft. Pelting rain and heavy winds prevented the use of aircraft in the search, forcing searchers to rely on [[automobile]]s, which were unsuited for the rugged mountain terrain. Harold Bromley, the Fresno inspector for the [[Civil Aeronautics Board#History|Bureau of Air Commerce]], told reporters that the "visibility in the Fresno area was practically zero" as a result of the downpour.<ref name="ogden" />
The general search involved both TWA and government officials, who drove to Fresno from San Francisco and Los Angeles to aid in the search.<ref name="ogden" /> As days passed, Transcontinental & Western Air grew increasingly desperate to find the aircraft, and eventually offered a $1,000 reward ({{Inflation|US|1000|1938|fmt=eq}}) to anyone who could locate the aircraft.
===Hoax call=== On March 2, 1938, the day after the flight's disappearance, Transcontinental & Western Air headquarters told reporters that it had received a message purporting to be from [[United Airlines]] offices in Fresno, which claimed that the missing aircraft had been found. The telephoned message said that the plane had been found approximately 20 miles from Fresno with "several passengers injured but everybody alive," as later reported in the ''Ogden Standard Examiner''.<ref name="ogden" />
Upon investigation, however, the message turned out to be a hoax; the plane had not been found. An outraged TWA spokesman denounced the message as "one of the cruelest hoaxes ever perpetrated."<ref name="ogden" /> Officials at United Airlines offices in both Fresno and San Francisco denied that their employees had been the ones to call in the hoax.
=== Discovery === Three months after the crash, the aircraft had still not been located. A private citizen, 23-year-old H.O. Collier of Fresno, began a personal search for the missing plane after interviewing numerous TWA personnel and studying charts of the flight path. In early June, Collier hiked into the snowy terrain northeast of [[Wawona, California]], and discovered the wreckage of the aircraft on June 12, 1938. The crash site was located {{convert|32|mi}} northwest of the area searched by investigators.
The aircraft was partially buried in the snow of Buena Vista Crest, within Yosemite National Park. Eight bodies out of 9 occupants were thrown from the plane. Only the body of stewardess Wilson was trapped in the wreckage.
Investigators speculated that the aircraft had been blown off course while attempting to divert to Fresno, and had subsequently lost [[radio contact]]. It appeared that the plane had sheared off the tops of pine trees while in a steep bank and crashed into the mountain {{convert|200|ft}} below the summit.
Seventy-one years later, Bob Hoskin of Redlands, California discovered a collection of artifacts from the crash in a cedar chest at a yard sale. It included a collection of original crash scene photos, letters from family members & TWA Officials, the TWA $1,000.00 reward check stub, First Officer Salisbury's pilot cap, a detailed manuscript written by Collier himself about how he found the plane, and several rejection letters regarding his composition.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hernandez |first1=Kristina |title=Redlands man's collection documents 1938 TWA plane crash in Yosemite |url=http://www.sbsun.com/2014/01/05/redlands-mans-collection-documents-1938-twa-plane-crash-in-yosemite |access-date=30 March 2021 |work=The Sun |date=5 January 2014}}</ref>
== Investigation == On June 13, 1938, after the discovery of the crash site of Flight 8, [[Daniel C. Roper]], the [[Secretary of Commerce]], named a special board to investigate the crash.<ref name="ogden" /> As the members of the inquisitorial board made their way cross-country from [[Washington, D.C.]], the [[coroner]] ruled that the cause of death of the victims of the flight was "[[accidental death|accidental]]."<ref name="ogden" />
== See also == * [[List of accidents and incidents involving airliners in the United States]] * [[Trans World Airlines]]
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.efootage.com/stock-footage/61518/1938381930sThirtiestwinengineTWADouglas Video footage] of recovery efforts, [http://www.efootage.com/ eFootage.com], Accessed: May 24, 2009. * [https://www.flickr.com/photos/twa1049g/12408677613/ Photo of actual aircraft] at TWA Chicago hangar circa 1934.
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1938}} {{Yosemite National Park}} {{TWA}} {{Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in the 1930s}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yosemite Twa Crash}} [[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1938]] [[Category:March 1938 in the United States]] [[Category:Airliner accidents and incidents in California]] [[Category:Madera County, California]] [[Category:Deaths in Yosemite National Park|1938]] [[Category:Trans World Airlines accidents and incidents]] [[Category:1938 in California]] [[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents involving the Douglas DC-2]]