FIRST NAME

LAST NAME

LOCALITY

Rockport, ME Commuter Plane Crashes On Coast, May 1979

Posted January 19th, 2008 by Stu Beitler

17 KILLED IN PLANE CRASH.

Owls Head, Maine (AP) -- A Downeast Airlines commuter plane from Boston crashed near the Maine coast, killing 17 of the 18 persons aboard, authorities said.
Seven bodies were found late Wednesday and the rest were discovered early today in or near the wreckage, said WILLIAM REINHARDT, a Knox County deputy sheriff.
One passenger, JOHN M. McCAFFERTY, 16, of Searsmont, was in "serious but stable condition" at a Rockport hospital. The youth, who suffered a broken leg and head injuries, was shouting for help as rescuers arrived.
Police and sheriff's deputies had searched until early today, hoping to find survivors in the muddy, heavily wooded area where the turboprop DeHavilland Twin Otter went down Wednesday en route from Boston to Owls Head.
The airline was withholding the names of the passengers and crew members until the bodies could be identified and the relatives notified.
Flight 46 carried 16 passengers, a pilot and a co-pilot on the 45-minute trip from Boston's Logan Airport.
The Canadian-built aircraft crashed shortly before 9 p.m. after the pilot made a routine request for permission to divert the flight to Augusta because of poor weather conditions at Knox County Airport in Owls Head, said the Federal Aviation Administration.
But the air traffic controller at Brunswick Naval Air Station lost radio contact with the pilot at 8:43 p.m., said FAA spokesman MIKE CICCARELLI, and "the next thing we knew we got word of a crash."
Sheriff CARLTON THURSTON said the plane lost its wing when it hit a tree on Otter Point and crashed about 400 yards from the beach. Witnesses said the plane crashed into a large rock and flipped over on its back.
Broken bodies protruded from the wreckage as medical examiners tried to assess the carnage. Officials at the scene radioed for body bags, saying "we need plenty." A temporary morgue was set up on the grounds of the Rockport hospital.
The Knox County Sheriff's Department said it received the first report of the crash at 9:13 p.m. and found the wreckage 25 minutes later.
An investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board was scheduled to arrive at the scene today with FAA representatives.

Marysville Journal-Tribune Ohio 1979-05-31

Transcriber's Note:
I am finding a manifest of this flight very hard to find, but, I do not give up so easily. So far I have the following as being killed:
JAMES MERRYMAN, 35, the pilot.
THOMAS MASSEY, Ruston, Maryland.
JANET MASSEY, Ruston, Maryland.
DAVID SCOTT, Annapolis, Maryland.
GEORGE HINES, the co-pilot.
BILL DETTERLINE.
BARBARA SHELTON.
DOREEN GOGUEN.
JOHN A. EASTON.

Thank all of you very much for your help. Eventually we will have the full list to honor and comemorate this disater's victims.
Stu
__________________

Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!

flight 46

On January 31st, 2009 mark (not verified) says:

Hello Stu I'm looking for any info you might have on this flight is there a full passenger list or newspaper article that may provide some more info. theres quite a bit in the book Blind Trust by John J Nance that I have but no passenger manifest. and how is John McCafferty ?
thanks
Mark

flight 46

On February 8th, 2009 mark (not verified) says:

Stu thanks for taking an insterest anything is a great help. given that in may will be 30 years since this flight went down and 17 people loss there lives. if I am able to gather more names I'll add them to this thead.
god bless

more names

On February 9th, 2009 mark (not verified) says:

A few more names: George Hines co-pilot, Bill Detterline, Barbara Sheldon, Doreen Goguen
Thanks Again for your help.
Mark

Mark - I am not sure if

On February 11th, 2009 anonymous (not verified) says:

Mark -
I am not sure if there is a "list". But my father-in-law died in that crash. His name is/was John A. Easton.
I am not sure how helpful that is. I would like to see a list, also.
Laurie A. Easton

contact

On February 16th, 2009 mark (not verified) says:

Laurie could you send me a personal e-mail
thanks
Mark
Spark500001@yahoo.com

names that I found

On February 18th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:

Stu I think I have been able to get complete the list here it goes : Stephen L Baldwin, John A Easton, William F Detterline, Vera H Brandes, John L Golden, Roberta A Merrill, Franklin M and Carl Gates, Steven Caldwell, John F RatzKoff, Thomas Jr and Janet Massey David Scott. It looks like only 13 names the page got cut off that the fellow from the newspaper sent me from Bangor I will send you the rest sorry man this stuff can be like pulling teeth .
Mark

thanks

On February 19th, 2009 Stu Beitler says:

Just want to thank you all for your help .. Some lists are very easy to find .. and then others .. well like you said pulling teeth ...
I especially have had trouble getting list from Military plane disasters ..
Thanks
Stu Beitler

__________________

Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!

More Flight 46 Information

On March 17th, 2009 wpb13 says:

My grandfather, William (Bill) Detterline, was on this flight. The John Nance "Blind Trust" book was very insightful, but terribly sad (and upsetting) to read.

NTSB Aircraft Accident Report NTSB-AAR-80-5 can be found here:
http://www.airdisaster.com/reports/ntsb/AAR80-05.pdf

Wikipedia has some basic information about Downeast Air and Flight 46: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downeast_Airlines#Flight_46_Accident (much of this information was pulled from the NTSB report and the John Nance "Blind Trust" book).

Also, I have digital scans of a handful of newspaper clippings about this accident. If anyone would like a copy, just contact me via this site's personal contact form and I would be happy to email them to you.

Downeast Air Crash

On March 27th, 2009 chuckberg says:

Would anyone on the board mind sharing information with WCSH-TV for a story on the anniversary of this crash? Feel free to contact me at charlie.berg@wcsh6.com

Thanks!
Charlie Berg

John F Ratzkoff

On May 7th, 2009 Anonymous (not verified) says:

I have been searching for an old friend John Ratzkoff who was an attorney in Boston for years...
and this is the first time i saw his name on google...
could you verify if the John Ratzkoff was the same person...
thank you...

30th anniversary coverage by WCSH-6 Portland ME NBC Station

On May 16th, 2009 wpb13 says:

Article: http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=104420

Video1: http://www.wcsh6.com/video/default.aspx?aid=48537

Video2: http://www.wcsh6.com/video/default.aspx?aid=48618

Correction to name

On June 27th, 2009 Elizabeth Shelton (not verified) says:

The name Barbara Sheldon on the list should read Barbara Shelton, Tampa, Florida.
I am her sister. As hard as it was for me to read the article and relive that day, thank
you for posting the article and keeping her memory alive. I was too much in shock at the
time to be concerned as to how the plane crashed. Now I know.

thank you

On June 29th, 2009 Stu Beitler says:

Elizabeth
thank you so much for your correction ...
I am thankful this article offered you a small part of consolation .. God Bless
Stu

__________________

Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!

Search for more information on this disaster and other train wrecks, fires, accidents, etc. in historical newspapers in the Newspaper Archive. Over one billion newspaper articles online!
Search for your ancestors among the billions of names at ancestry.com Find death records, census images, immigration lists and genealogy other databases for your surnames. Use this Free trial to search for your ancestors.
Start Your Family Tree It's FREE and easy. Start with yourself, your parents, grandparents and you're on your way to building your family history! Get Started Now and build your family tree at ancestry.com. It's Free!


Family Old Photos | Old-Yearbooks.com | Old Photos & Genealogy Blog

gendisasters.com is a genealogy site, compiling information on the historic disasters, events, and tragic accidents our ancestors endured, as well as, information about their life and death. Database and records searchable by surname. Compilation, design, artwork and concept covered by copyright. Copyright ©2006-2009, All rights reserved. Contact me. Privacy Policy.