National Airlines Flight 470

National Airlines Flight 470
	National DC-6 similar to the one involved
Accident
Date	February 14, 1953
Summary	Turbulence, in-flight breakup
Site	Gulf of Mexico, off Fort Morgan, Alabama ; 30°10′25″N 87°57′10″W / 30.17361°N 87.95278°W
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Douglas DC-6
Operator	National Airlines
Registration	N90893
Flight origin	Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida
Stopover	Tampa International Airport, Tampa, Florida
Destination	Moisant Field, New Orleans, Louisiana
Occupants	46
Passengers	41
Crew	5
Fatalities	46
Survivors	0

National Airlines Flight 470 was a regularly scheduled flight between Tampa and New Orleans that crashed on February 14, 1953 after encountering severe turbulence. The crash marked the deadliest accident in the history of National Airlines, killing 46 (5 crew and 41 passengers), among them the widow of the cartoonist Billy DeBeck: Mary Bergman.

Events

The Douglas DC-6, registered N90893, crashed into the Gulf of Mexico 20 miles (32 km) off Mobile Point en route to New Orleans.^[1] The USCGC Blackthorn assisted in search and recovery operations.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] National Airlines did not maintain its own meteorology department, as was standard among airlines at the time, and its pilots were not informed of the strength of the storm into which they were flying.^[6]

References

^ "15 Bodies Found After DC6 Plunges Into Gulf Waters". AP. February 16, 1953.
^ "Civil Aeronautics Board Investigation of Aircraft Accident: NATIONAL AIRLINES: IN GULF OF MEXICO: 1953-02-14". rosap.ntl.bts.gov. Archived from the original on April 24, 2021. Retrieved June 1, 2021.
^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Douglas DC-6 N90893 Mobile Point, AL, USA [Gulf of Mexico]". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
^ "Plane With 45 Aboard Lost". AP. February 14, 1953.
^ "Lightning May Have Caused DC6 Crash". Big Spring, TX. The Big Spring Daily Herald. February 15, 1953.
^ "Stiles v. National Airlines". LEAGLE. Retrieved September 22, 2014.

External links

Report of the Civil Aeronautics Board - PDF

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[1] "15 Bodies Found After DC6 Plunges Into Gulf Waters". AP. February 16, 1953.

[2] "Civil Aeronautics Board Investigation of Aircraft Accident: NATIONAL AIRLINES: IN GULF OF MEXICO: 1953-02-14". rosap.ntl.bts.gov. Archived from the original on April 24, 2021. Retrieved June 1, 2021.

[3] Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Douglas DC-6 N90893 Mobile Point, AL, USA [Gulf of Mexico]". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved October 12, 2020.

[4] "Plane With 45 Aboard Lost". AP. February 14, 1953.

[5] "Lightning May Have Caused DC6 Crash". Big Spring, TX. The Big Spring Daily Herald. February 15, 1953.

[6] "Stiles v. National Airlines". LEAGLE. Retrieved September 22, 2014.

[1]

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1950s
1950	Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 307 (March 1950) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501 (June 1950) Myrtle Beach USAF C-46D crash (July 1950) Fairfield-Suisun Boeing B-29 crash (August 1950)
1951	National Airlines Flight 83 (January 1951) Cubana de Aviación Flight 493 (April 1951) United Air Lines Flight 610 (June 1951) United Air Lines Flight 615 (August 1951) Miami Airlines C-46 crash (December 16 1951) Continental Charters Flight 44-2 (December 29 1951)
1952	American Airlines Flight 6780 (January 1952) National Airlines Flight 101 (February 1952) Pan Am Flight 526A (April 1952) American Airlines Flight 910 (June 1952) Mount Gannett C-124 crash (November 22 1952)* Tacoma C-54 crash (November 28 1952) Moses Lake C-124 crash (December 1952)
1953	National Airlines Flight 470 (February 1953) Western Air Lines Flight 636 (April 1953) Delta Air Lines Flight 318 (May 1953) USMC R4Q NROTC crash (July 1953) American Airlines Flight 723 (September 1953) BCPA Flight 304 (October 1953)
1954	Western Air Lines Flight 34 (February 1954}
1955	Cincinnati mid-air collision (January 1955) TWA Flight 260 (February 1955) American Airlines Flight 711 (March 20 1955) Hawaii R6D-1 crash (March 22 1955)* Pan Am Flight 845/26 (March 26 1955) MacArthur Airport United Airlines crash (April 1955) American Airlines Flight 476 (August 1955) United Air Lines Flight 409 (October 1955) United Air Lines Flight 629 (November 1955)
1956	TWA Flight 400 (April 1 1956) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2 (April 2 1956) Grand Canyon mid-air collision (June 1956) Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 304 (July 9 1956) United States Air Force Flight 441/13 (July 13 1956)
1957	American Airlines Flight 327 (January 6 1957) Pacoima mid-air collision (January 31 1957) Northeast Airlines Flight 823 (February 1957) Northeast Airlines Flight 285 (September 1957)
1958	Capital Airlines Flight 67 (April 1958) Capital Airlines Flight 300 (May 1958) Westover Air Force Base KC-135 crash (June 1958) Northeast Airlines Flight 258 (August 1958)
1959	Southeast Airlines Flight 308 (January 1959) The Day the Music Died (February 3 1959) American Airlines Flight 320 (February 3 1959) Capital Airlines Flight 75 (May 1959) American Airlines Flight 514 (August 1959) Braniff International Airways Flight 542 (September 1959) Piedmont Airlines Flight 349 (October 1959) National Airlines Flight 967 (November 1959) Allegheny Airlines Flight 371 (December 1 1959) San Diego F3H crash (December 4 1959)
This list is incomplete. An asterisk (*) denotes an incident that took place in a U.S. territory, including Alaska and Hawaii prior to statehood.