1960 New York mid-air collision

United Airlines Flight 826 was a flight that collided with TWA Flight 266 on December 16, 1960. No one survived. The accident became known as the **Park Slope plane crash** or the **Miller Field crash**, named after the two crash sites. The accident was the first hull loss and the first fatal accident involving a Douglas DC-8.

## Aircrafts and crews

United Airlines Flight 826, _Mainliner Will Rogers_, registration N8013U, was a DC-8-11. It carried 77 passengers and seven crew members. It was travelling from O'Hare International Airport to Idlewild Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport) in Queens. The crew was captain Robert Sawyer (age 46), first officer Robert Fiebing (40), flight engineer Richard Pruitt (30) and four stewardesses.

Trans World Airlines Flight 266, _Star of Sicily_, registration N6907C, was a Super Constellation. It carried 39 passengers and five crew members. It was travelling from Dayton and Columbus, Ohio to LaGuardia Airport in Queens. The crew was captain David Wollam (age 39), first officer Dean Bowen (32), flight engineer LeRoy Rosenthal (30) and two stewardesses.

## Initial survivor

There was a initial survivor in the accident, Stephen Baltz, an 11-year-old boy from Wilmette, Illinois. He was travelling alone on Flight 826 to spend Christmas with his relatives. He was thrown from the plane into the snowbank, where the snow helped to put out the fire on his clothes. Although he was alive and conscious, he was severely burned and had breathed in burning fuel. Baltz died of pneumonia the next day.

## Legacy

This was the most people killed in an aircraft accident until a Lockheed C-130B Hercules was shot down in May 1968, killing 155 people. In terms of commercial aviation, the death toll would not be surpassed until Viasa Flight 742 on March 1969. The aircraft crashed on takeoff and killed all 84 people on board, as well as 71 people on the ground.

In 2010, on the 50th anniversary of the accident, a memorial to the 134 victims of the two crashes was revealed in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn. The cemetery is the site of the common grave containing the bodies which could not be identified.

The collision is covered in "Collision Course," the fifth episode of the first season of The Weather Channel documentary series _Why Planes Crash_.

## Infobox (aircraft occurrence)

- **name**: 1960 New York mid-air collision

- **image**: Photo of United 826 crash site 2.jpg
- **caption**: Wreckage of United Airlines Flight 826
- **occurrence type**: plane crash
- **summary**: mid-air collision
- **site**: About a mile west of Miller Field (Staten Island), Miller Field
- **total fatalities**: 134
- **total injuries**: 0
- **total survivors**: 0
- **ground fatalities**: 6
- **plane1 image**: San Francisco Airport Jul 24, 1960 Jetway into United Douglas DC-8 jet N8013U.jpg
- **plane1 alt**: A jetliner on the apron
- **plane1 caption**: The Empennage, tail assembly of N8013U, the Douglas DC-8, Douglas DC-8-11 involved in the collision
- **plane1 type**: Douglas DC-8, Douglas DC-8-11
- **plane1 name**: Mainliner Will Rogers
- **plane1 operator**: United Airlines
- **plane1 iata**: UA826
- **plane1 icao**: UAL826
- **plane1 callsign**: UNITED 826
- **plane1 tailnum**: N8013U
- **plane1 origin**: Chicago-O'Hare International Airport (ORD/KORD), Illinois, IL
- **plane1 destination**: Idlewild Airport (IDL/KIDL)(Now John F. Kennedy International Airport), New York City
- **plane1 occupants**: 84
- **plane1 passengers**: 77
- **plane1 crew**: 7
- **plane1 fatalities**: 84 (Initially)
- **plane1 injuries**: 0 (Initially)
- **plane1 survivors**: 0 (Initially)
- **plane2 alt**: A large piston engined airliner taxiing past some large bomber aircraft
- **plane2 caption**: N6907C, the Lockheed L-1049A Super Constellation involved.
- **plane2 type**: Lockheed L-1049A Super Constellation
- **plane2 name**: Star of Sicily
- **plane2 operator**: Trans World Airlines
- **plane2 iata**: TW266
- **plane2 icao**: TWA266
- **plane2 callsign**: TWA 266
- **plane2 tailnum**: N6907C
- **plane2 origin**: Dayton International Airport (DAY/KDAY), Dayton, Ohio
- **plane2 stopover**: Port Columbus International Airport (CMH/KCMH), Ohio
- **plane2 destination**: LaGuardia Airport KLGA New York
- **plane2 occupants**: 44
- **plane2 passengers**: 39
- **plane2 crew**: 5
- **plane2 fatalities**: 44
- **plane2 survivors**: 0