 twa flight 903 was a regularly scheduled flight from bombay international airport, india to new york-idlewild airport, via cairo-king farouk airport and rome-ciampino airport. the star of maryland, a lockheed l-749a constellation, flew the route on the night of 31 august 1950. it departed cairo at 23:35 for rome with 55 persons aboard, (48 passengers and seven crew members), in good weather. as flight 903 was climbing at , the crew reported that its number three engine was on fire and that they needed a priority return to cairo. as the plane was returning to cairo, the engine separated from the aircraft, forcing the crew to attempt a forced landing in the desert about 65 miles nnw of cairo. the airliner went down near the village of ityai el barud at the rim of the western desert, killing all 55 on board, including twenty-three americans and an egyptian film star. searchers found the wreckage strewn over  after trekking  over hot sands to reach it, where the aircraft wreckage was found almost completely burnt out. the bodies of the victims were badly charred, delaying identification. a united press international correspondent reported that the plane had smashed into a narrow-gauge railway in hitting the ground and had plowed up a considerable stretch of track. a dozen nations were represented among the 48 passengers. prominent among the americans were aubrey william schofield, of houston, tex., and new york, an oil company executive; and dr. everett moore baker, dean of students at the massachusetts institute of technology. mr. schofield, a native of san antonio, texas., was manager of the gulf oil company's eastern hemisphere foreign production division and had recently been filling in as manager of the kuwait oil company. dr. baker had been in bombay to preside over the international student service's annual conference there. also killed was the architect [[maciej no
1950_in_Egypt Accidents_and_incidents_involving_the_Lockheed_Constellation Airliner_accidents_and_incidents_caused_by_in-flight_fires Airliner_accidents_and_incidents_caused_by_mechanical_failure Aviation_accidents_and_incidents_in_1950 Aviation_accidents_and_incidents_in_Egypt Trans_World_Airlines_accidents_and_incidents