This project was supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian Made accessible through a grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation and Photo Friends
Photograph was edited for publication purposes. On February 1, 1958, an Air Force Douglas C118 transport plane leaving Long Beach Airport collided with a Navy Lockheed P2V Neptune patrol bomber leaving Los Alamitos Naval Air Station. The transport plane, carrying 41, crashed into the sheriff’s sub-station, killing all aboard. The bomber, carrying 8, crashed in a dump in Santa Fe Springs, had two survivors. One woman on the ground was killed. This crash, along with similar accidents in California around the same time, prompted a federal investigation and resulted in a ban on low level departures from Los Alamitos Naval Air Station. Photograph caption dated February 3, 1958 reads "Civilians aid firemen in trying to cool down main wreckage of transport which plunged into service yard of Norwalk sheriff's sub-station. They were working so bodies could be removed. No one was in yard at time of plane crash. Air Force men today are probing cause of one of California's worst plane disasters which occurred one year and one day after a similar collision over Pacoima. Only 20 bodies have been identified."
Douglas Aircraft Company Lockheed Aircraft Corporation Fire fighters Men Aircraft accidents Transport planes Airplanes Police stations Fire fighting Hoses Debris Lost architecture Norwalk (Calif.) Night photographs
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