Deadly Turbulence: The Air Safety Lessons of Braniff Flight 250 and Other Airliners, 1959-1966 is a book which discusses six disasters or near-disasters of the early Jet Age, experiences which shook the industry, regulators and public out of early complacency and helped build a more realistic foundation for safer air transportation. Flights covered include:
Northwest Orient Airlines flight 705
A Boeing 720-051B broke up in midair and crashed into the Florida Everglades on 12-Feb-1963 shortly after takeoff from KMIA in a severe thunderstorm. NWO705 was bound for Chicago, Spokane, Seattle, and Portland. Probable cause: “The unfavorable interaction of severe vertical air drafts and large longitudinal control displacements, resulting in a longitudinal upset from which a successful recovery was not made.” Death toll: All 43 on board.
Eastern Air Lines flight 304
A Douglas DC-8-21 flying from New Orleans International Airport to Washington Dulles International Airport, crashed on 25-Feb-64, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Its route was Mexico City/New Orleans/Atlanta/Washington Dulles. All 51 passengers and 7 crew were killed. Among the dead were American singer and actor Kenneth Spencer and Marie-Hélène Lefaucheux, a women’s and human rights activist and member of the French delegation to the United Nations.
Braniff International Airways flight 352
On 3-May-68, a Lockheed L-188A Electra flying between Houston Hobby and Dallas Love, registration N9707C, disintegrated in midair and crashed near Dawson, Texas after flying into a severe thunderstorm. It was carrying five crew and 80 passengers, all of whom were killed, including Texas state representative Joseph Lockridge, the first black man to represent Dallas County in the Texas Legislature. Probable cause was “the captain’s decision to penetrate an area of heavy weather and the crew’s subsequent steep 180-degree turn to escape the conditions, which caused structural overstress and failure of the airframe.”
Pan American World Airways flight 115
This Boeing 707-121 flight from Paris via London to New York City, was involved in one of the most significant jet upset incidents of the jet airliner age. The upset happened over the North Atlantic near Newfoundland on 3-Feb-1959. Two famous actors were onboard: Gene Kelly (“An American in Paris”) and Susan Oliver (“Peyton Place”). This was one of three air disasters that day: the crash of American Airlines Flight 320 in New York City, and the crash of a private aircraft at Storm Lake, IA, which caused the deaths of rock and roll artists Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and “The Big Bopper” J.P. Richardson.
United Airlines flight 764
A Boeing 720-B experienced a severe in-flight upset after encountering severe turbulence in the cirrus portion of a thunderstorm at 37, 500 feet over O’Neill, Nebraska, on 12-Jul-1963. Its route was San Francisco International to Chicago O’Hare International. This aircraft fell 23,000 feet in just over a minute-and-a-half. Even more remarkable: The aircraft broke the sound barrier at least once. Amazingly, the aircraft appeared intact and safely flew on to its destination in Chicago. Six passengers were shaken up, but there were no injuries. A minute inspection turned up no structural damage and the aircraft was returned to service.
FOCUS FLIGHT
Braniff International Airways flight 250
Jon Proctor’s photo of N1553, the Braniff International BAC One-Eleven, taken at Dallas Love Field sometime between Oct. 1965 and August 1966. N1553 crashed as flight 250 the night of 6-Aug-66 over Nebraska (Used by permission)
The book is dedicated to the 42 Onboard Braniff International Flight 250. On 6-Aug-1966, Braniff 250, a British Aerospace BAC-1-11 twin jet, registration N1553, was ripped apart by horizontal wind shear 5,000 feet above the Antone Schawang farm northeast of Falls City, NE, killing all 42 on board. Their story, and others’, is told in the book, published by McFarland.
The cockpit roof and those Alexander Girard seats cushions are scattered all over nearby the wreckage of BAC 1-11 N1553. Photo by Bill Shock, The Falls City Journal. Used by permisson.
BOOK EXCERPTS
“A Night of Menace …” 42 people lost their lives in the crash of Braniff flight 250. Their deaths had ripple effects down generations:
“But on this Sunday morning, when Tim hit the bottom of the staircase and started towards the TV, he realized something was very different. Instead of an empty room, he found his mother sitting in a chair in the dining room, looking into the living room and crying. His older brother Dan, 15, and sister Kathleen, 12, were not in the room. “He came to a halt in the middle of the living room and stared at his mother. He started to speak, but his Uncle Bob Lindseth, his mother’s brother, quickly took him aside and quietly broke the news. Some 450 miles to the southwest of their Bloomington home, while he slept peacefully, Tim’s father and 41 others perished when their aircraft encountered a violent thunderstorm near a place called Falls City, Nebraska.”
“‘… touched and tainted by an evil wind.’ … As they watched the moon and kept an eye on the approaching front, they saw the red and white flashing strobes of an airplane coming up from the southeast. “It was a jet, flying fairly low and imitating the moon by ducking in and out of the low clouds. The moon made its white wings and T-shaped tail stand out, the effect enhanced by the row of lighted windows down the speeding jet’s side. “The good humor was still hanging about the car as the plane entered another cloud. In another instant, the entire night sky seemed to burst into flame — brighter and more sudden than even the lightning to the north. The laughter in the car stopped, choked off in their throats. “‘My God, the world is on fire!’ the farmer’s wife screamed, finally recovering speech.
“This is an extremely well written book, not only discussing several early jet age disasters, but about some of the people involved. In chapter nine, Extraordinary Lives, the author tells the story of three significant people aboard Eastern Airlines Flight 304, Grant Newby, Marie-Helene Lefaucheux, and Kenneth Lee Spencer. “It is also a story of innovation. Jet airliners like the Boeing 707 and 720, the Douglas DC-8, and the BAC One-11 were all cutting edge aircraft in the late 1950s and 1960s. “With new innovations there came new challenges. Suddenly these jets were breaking up and falling out of the sky in and around thunderstorms! Even experienced pilots seemed unable to prevent some of these accidents. … “The book is not overly technical and easily keeps your attention. I recommend it to anybody who is an aviation enthusiast, meteorology students or enthusiasts, and aviation historians.”
—David A. Budka
“Great book to read. I remember seeing this happen in 1966. I never heard all the details. This book was very informative. Would recommend to anyone who likes true stories. But this was a sad day. May they all RIP.”
—Angela Nolte
“This is a sad but excellent study of several Airline crashes from the early days of commercial jet airline service. The outcome of these collisions ultimately lead America’s commercial airline industry to a much better understanding of the dangers of severe turbulence during Airline flight.”
—Bill
“From tragedies come stories of courage and compassion. AND REMEMBRANCE. LET us learn together from this one. And not forget.”
—Thomas Girard
“I wasn’t aware of so many flights crashing in the same day. Not only have I learned a lot, but it was written in a way that it is hard to stop reading it. A work of non-fiction but the writing held your attention so that you don’t want to stop reading until you reach the end of the book. A great book!”
—Vicky Seibel
“Very interesting book. I collect Aviation Disaster Books and was glad to find a new one. Denise K. Bennett Very interesting read on early air safety and it’s impact on air flying today and overall airplane and flight safety.”
—Mitch Miner
The Author
I fell in love with airliners at the age of five during a fateful encounter with a brand-new Pan Am 747 in Roswell, NM. I have been a 911 emergency telecommunications officer and a public school educator, as well as a journalist and author. As of the summer of 2025, I am embarking on new adventures. My husband and our rescued basset hounds live in Nashville, Tennessee. Thanks for reading! —Steve Pollock, Journalist, Teacher, Author, Dispatcher.
c. 1981-2025 | Steve Pollock | All Rights Reserved
