[Report on plane crash near Midway airport, Chicago]

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

We're in the landing pattern of planes, large four engine planes, most of them, that come into the Midway Airport from the southeast.

Even now, through the day, firemen are poking through the rubble of what were three houses here on the corner, who are more victims of an airplane crash this morning.

With me is a woman who lived across the street, whose home would have been hit if the plane had not come to rest here across the street.

Isabel Berg, could you tell us what happened? Well, I got up this morning and my alarm went off about 5 .30 and I put the light on and all of a sudden I heard this terrific explosion and a whooshing sound like, well I don't know what it was.

The whole front of the house lit up and I went out to the front to see what was there and I saw all these houses in flames.

At the time I didn't know what had happened.

I thought that a boiler had exploded in the basement of one of them, but later I learned that the plane had crashed into them.

The flames were sky high and the building seemed to be flattened out and it was a terrible, terrible sight.

Raymond, can you tell me what happened this morning, just the way it started, the first thing you saw and noticed? Well, the first thing I knew, I heard the plane coming down and I knew it was going to hit and then there was a crash and a whole bunch of bricks and rubbers and stuff dumped in on me while I was sleeping through the window.

I got up in a hurry and there was flaming gasoline all over the place and I ran around a little bit.

I got chiggered with my head off and I thought of going upstairs but then I thought it hit the top of the house and it was worse upstairs.

So I went into my dad's room and broke the window over there and he went out the window and then I went upstairs anyway.

And my uncle took my hand and made me out the front door.

Identifier

F.2012-03-1094

Date Of Production

circa 1959

Abstract

Black and white footage featuring images from the aftermath of a plane that crashed into residential buildings near Midway airport in Chicago. Images include firefighters putting out the fire, debris from the crash, and bodies being taken away. An on-site reporter interviews an eyewitness and one of the injured victims from his hospital bed.

This is possibly the plane crash that took place in November 1959 when a TWA Lockheed Constellation crashed near 63rd Place and Kilpatrick Avenue in Chicago, killing eight people on the ground and the three occupants of the airliner.

Run Time

0:03:44

Format

16mm

Extent

134 feet

Color

B&W

Sound

Optical

Reel/Tape Number

1/1

Has Been Digitized?

Yes

Language Of Materials

English

Element

Negatives

Genre

Disaster

Form

Outtakes
Newsreels

Subject

Disasters
Aviation
Aircraft accidents

Related Collections

SUBSERIES III: Accidents & Disasters

Related Places

North America ➜ United States ➜ Illinois ➜ Chicago

Main Credits

Koza, Frank (is filmmaker)

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