The aircraft was then spiralled over the spot down to an altitude of 500feet through a stratus deck with a base of approximately 800 feet, and tops of 1,200 to 1,400feet. Although sabotage was suspected, no definite cause of the crash was determined. The search was resumed on November 26, 1959, to the south and west of the previous area based upon drift studies of recovered debris. Air Route Traffic Control cleared Flight967 over the established route across the Gulf from Tampa to New Orleans at 14,000feet altitude. One passenger, William Taylor, had boarded the flight using a ticket issued to Robert Vernon Spears, a convicted criminal working at the time as a naturopath. National Airlines Flight 967, registration N4891C, was a Douglas DC-7B aircraft which disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico en route from Tampa, Florida to New Orleans, Louisiana on November 16, 1959. Incredible write-up! Subsequent investigation has failed to reveal the use of any marine signal flash or pyrotechnic, which might have had a somewhat similar appearance, at the time and place. Thats not necessarily so. His wife would then cash in an insurance policy for $100,000 on Spears' life. One part of the investigation focused on the passengers. The main wreckage has not been located despite several well planned searches. WOW! You can help us keep FlightAware free by allowing ads from FlightAware.com. C. L. McGAVERN, Jacksonville, Florida, RENFRO (no first name), arrived from Orlando, JACK ATKINSON, Miami Springs, an inspector for the Federal Aviation Agency, Self-Styled: Chasing Dr Robert Vernon Spears by Alan C. Logan, Civil Aeronautics Board - Aircraft Accident Report, June 11, 1962, Robert Spears, 1959 bomb suspect, dies in Dallas". The prosecutor in Spearss abortion case pointed out they already had sworn affidavits from the abortion witnesses, which they could simply have read out in court. He was charged with unlawful possession of an automobile but due to lack of evidence was never charged in the alleged bombing of Flight 967. At 0005 the flight reported to Tampa company radio as over Crab at 0002 and estimated NL1, also a customary reporting point, at 0031, at 14,000feet. If he were not, I don't know anything I could do about it. [Here she began choking back tears] "I know one thing, we had planned on celebrating my son's birthday and we had bigger plans for Christmas. It's possible it was not a direct flight, and the next leg would have been from NO to Dallas. None of these nine persons had been subjected to fire or smoke before death, as demonstrated by low carboxyhemoglobin levels in blood and tissue. November 5 After suffering an in-flight engine fire, the second North American X-15 (AF 56-6671), piloted by Scott Crossfield, breaks its Back making an emergency landing on Rosamond Dry Lake, California. And that they happened to know a seedy lawyer who (allegedly) blew himself up a month later? A few moments before the departure of Flight967 from Tampa, Taylor purchased a flight insurance policy in the amount of $37,500 from a coin-operated machine at Tampa International Airport making his son the beneficiary and showing his destination as Dallas, Texas. NASA967 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Flugtracking und She later said she had a premonition that her husband had been on that flight, and she never wavered from it. 2912.3'N, Long. Spears had been a close friend of her husband, and she had never considered him to be a good influence. Taylor, investigators discovered, was wanted in Washington DC and Philadephlia under a variety of assumed names at the time of his disappearance. Feb 2023 - Present2 months. While circling in this general area, several bodies were sighted as well as one liferaft that had been broken out of its case but was not inflated and appeared to be about three-fourths submerged. I do think Taylor took Spears spot on the plane last minute (hence only the briefcase, no luggage), but I don't think Taylor nor Spears intended to blow up the plane. Logan seems to be a firm defender of Spears. This position was buoyed and two dives were made in depths of 210 feet. * Lockheed Super H Constellation The FBI, while stopping short of the Svengali hypothesis, acknowledged that "Spears may have had someone travel for him to collect a large insurance policy for the benefit of his young wife". Franks body was found with injuries significantly different from and much more extensive than the other passengers, injuries which were inconsistent with the type of injury usually incurred in an aircraft accident. We partner with our EMS and hospital customers to solve the challenges of patient logistics and save lives. and then hurry away, accidentally forgetting your luggage. A massive search began. Track American Airlines (AA) #967 flight from Austin-Bergstrom Intl to Dallas-Fort Worth Intl. I've never heard of this and I love aviation mysteries. These were her statements: "If my husband was on that plane, I can accept it although my life will be hard. Unfortunately, these searches were not successful. Robert Spears (naturopath) - Wikipedia The aircraft was a DC-7, N 4891C, owned by Delta Air Lines and operated by National under an equipment interchange agreement. - November 16, 1959, a DC-7B flown on an interchange route with Delta Air Lines, in a Delta aircraft but with a NAL crew National Airlines Flight 967, en route from Tampa to New Orleans, disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico. Air Methods is the most responsive and reliable provider of critical care transportation solutions. Logan asks a number of questions--whether Taylor could have planned a murder-suicide without Spearss knowledge, whether Taylor boarded the flight at all, whether the last-minute insurance policy was an intentional red herring to throw off investigators and utterly confuse everyone? We know he was at the airport that night, at 12:16 am. Remember Julian Frank, the corrupt lawyer who allegedly blew up the other aircraft? - February 11, 1952, a DC-6 crashed near Newark Airport, killing 29 out of 63 people on board. In a second interview, however, Turska told a different story. National Airlines flight 193 lies partially submerged in the shallow waters of Escambia Bay in Pensacola. * Lockheed L-188 Electra Rescuers went out in aircraft and boats, arriving before dawn and still combing the cold, rough seas as the sun came up. Submissions should outline a mystery and provide a link to a more detailed review of the case such as a Wiki article or news report. Track National Aeronautics and Space Administration #967 flight from Chennault Intl to Houston Ellington Flugstatus, Tracking und Flugverlaufsdaten fr National Aeronautics and Space Administration 967 (NASA967) 02.03.2023 (KCWF-KEFD) mit geplanten, geschtzten und tatschlichen Start- und Landezeiten Though no longer married to Al Taylor, Alice later told reporters they had been amicably divorced, and were still close. This position is six miles south and about five miles east of the radar-observed descent. Add hotel. After forging several checks, he had skipped town and completely abandoned his first family. All 42 on board were presumed killed in the incident. A careful search was made for witnesses. 16cm . Planes, especially larger passenger ones, were still fairly new back then-- they were still figuring out the kinks. Julian Andrew Frank | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers 1. * Douglas DC-6B Flight Departure Times. Fishermen in the Gulf who were questioned stated that they saw low-flying aircraft, but examination of their testimony indicated that they saw search aircraft shortly after the disaster and not the aircraft involved. ", Alan C. Logans book also cites a vague remark by Mr Turska that Spears was not alone when he showed up in Arizona after the crash. Here are the names of the people from the flight manifest. Final Flight: A look at the investigation into what brought down - WECT As it turned out, William Turska was not a model citizen himself. Two military radar stations had the flight under surveillance. He also told them that "after he left I found a case of hidden dynamite". The FBI got involved. [5], "Con Man, Best Man, An Air Crash - A Far Out, Far Up Mystery", "Robert Spears, 1959 bomb suspect, dies in Dallas", Aviation Safety Network report on Flight 967, Civil Aeronautics Board Aircraft Accident Report on Flight 967, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Spears_(naturopath)&oldid=1106844718, This page was last edited on 26 August 2022, at 19:28. National Airlines Flight 967 Part 01.PDF PDF document, 25,417 kB (26,027,901 bytes) Nothing. Turska claimed that once he found out about the plane crash fiasco, he immediately told Spears to leave, and then went straight to see his attorney. Sometimes passengers even boarded the wrong planes by accident. This position was determined by VOR bearings taken from 14,000feet altitude. In the postwar era, its fleet consisted of the: * Convair CV-340 Logan alleges "Turska was planning his own exit strategy" before the crash--in September 1959 he had put up his Arizona property for sale: "priced to sell, owner leaving state". One of these was not aboard, although a final passenger count showed 36passengers upon departure from Tampa. He was subsequently apprehended by Federal authorities in Phoenix, Arizona, for having unlawful possession of Mr. Taylor's vehicle. Texas International walked away from their foiled attempt with a multi-million dollar stock profit and was poised for Lorenzo's next venturesa startup airline in the high-density East coast corridor (New York Air), and subsequent acquisition of Continental Airlines. The United States Fish and Wild Life, M/VOREGON, searched for 24hours on December14 and 15, 1959, dragging a 35foot wide net over the botton at a position centered around Lat. On November 16, 1959, an airplane vanished over the Gulf of Mexico, with 42 people onboard. All 42 occupants perished. All 42 on board were presumed killed in the incident. * Boeing 727-035 Throughout this observation the radar scope indicated no other object. - January 6, 1960, a DC-6B en route from New York to Miami was destroyed by a bomb near Bolivia, North Carolina, killing all 34 on board. The flight accepted the clearance and stated it would remain at 14,000feet a little longer. Mississippi bans gender-affirming care for transgender youth Turska? * Douglas DC-4 Pan Am paid too high a price for National, and was ill prepared to integrate National's domestic route network with Pan Am's own globe-girdling international network. The Civil Aeronautics Board investigated the cause of the crash. No seat belt abrasions were found. FlightAware provides accurate real-time, historical and predictive flight insights to all segments of the DC-7 Cockpit - From the display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. This search was also unsuccessful. Clearly, Dr Spears had not been on that plane. Adequate fuel, with reserve, was carried. A mystery woman told a local Tampa newspaper that she had had a relationship with Taylor shortly before his disappearance, and did not believe he was dead. Accordingly, communications between Coast Guard surface vessels and the National Airlines Convair were relayed by Coast Guard aircraft. He was not a licensed MD, and his license to practice naturopathy had been revoked in 1957. Flight 967 (1959) Flight 2511 (1960) Flight 27 (1973) Flight 193 (1978) Category. I have not yet been back in that direction, but in my few decades of air travel, every flight to Tampa meant a stop in Houston before moving on, and the same can be said for the return flight. Headwinds of about 15 to 20knots at the filed flight altitude of 14,000feet were forecast. Sometimes with these mysteries that were so long ago it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the victims were people who were loved and cared for by many. Thanks for writing this all up. The ultimate flight tracking suite for small aircraft/general aviation (GA) owners and operators. Cheap Flights from Kathmandu to Yosemite National Park - KAYAK Posts about National Airlines Flight 967 written by The Flightpath. The unplanned water landing caught everyone . Yet as Logan points out, the crate of dynamite found on Turskas property was actually purchased in Tucson, and Spears had no way of getting into Tuscon from Turska's compound unless Turska himself drove him. I can understand him taking out an insurance policy. Self-Styled: Chasing Dr. Robert Vernon Spears - BlueInk Review Thank you for the great write-up. At its height, National Airlines had a network of "Coast-to-Coast-to-Coast" flights, linking Florida and the Gulf Coast with cities along the East Coast and large . arrow_forward Literature guides Concept explainers Writing guide Popular textbooks Popular high school textbooks Popular Q&A Business Accounting Economics Finance Leadership Management Marketing Operations Management Engineering Bioengineering Chemical Engineering Civil Engineering Computer Engineering Computer Science Electrical Engineering . Flight Nurse Job in Payson, AZ at Air Methods
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