Sandia Mountains, NM TWA Airliner Crashes, Feb 1955

AIR LINER SEARCH CONTINUES.

16 ABOARD TWA PLANE FEARED DOWN IN WILD COUNTRY NORTH OF HERE.

One of New Mexico's biggest air and ground searches was expected to swing into its second day at dawn today in an effort to locate a vanished TWA airliner carrying 16 persons.
The twin-engined Martin 404 took off at 7 a.m. Saturday from the Albuquerque airport for a 29-minute hop to Santa Fe. Three minutes later Pilot I. R. SPONG of Prairie Village, Kas., radioed that the plane was off the ground and on its way.
Then there was silence.
Five New Mexico residents were aboard the plane. They are HOMER D. BRAY, 817 Grandview SE; MISS LOIS DEAN, 907 Richmond SE; the Rev. EARL F. DAVIS, 501A Quincy NE; WORTH H. NICHOLL, Elks Club, and DR. ROBERT BALK, Socorro.
Search Unsuccessful.
Saturday's rumor-filled but unsuccessful search by ground and air, hampered to the north by viloent snowstorms, was to be resumed at dawn today with some 50 planes and perhaps as many as a thousand ground searchers taking part.
Despite bitter cold, many searchers maintained vigil throughout the night, watching for fires or flares that might indicate the presence somewhere in the mountainous, broken area of survivors of a forced landing.
Just before midnight OLIVER PADILLA of Santa Fe reported to state police that he spotted what appeared to be a distress signal as he topped the crest of La Bajada Hill on US-85. Police had not found anything early today.
Albuquerque's Fire Chief ART WESTERFELD long after dark radioed that in a jeep he had seen one fire that looked as if it might be the kind sought, flaring on lonely Rowe Mesa between Las Vegas and Santa Fe. Search crews were going in to investigate.
State Police headquarters in Santa Fe said a second fire was seen near the isolated community of Palma, near Clines Corners of US-85 due south of Rowe. A car was dispatched to the scene, but was stopped before reaching it by a flat tire and snow.
Could see No Fires.
Officers said a civil air patrol plane flew over Rowe Mesa and could see no fires, such as WESTERFELD reported. Four scheduled planes, flying over the mesa and not participating in the search, said they had seen no fires.
Headquarters said ground crews into the vast tabletop mesa would await morning when it's possible the plane could be pinpointed from the air.
WESTERFELD said he and BOB WILLIAMS of the Albuquerque Civil Defense Unit climbed the Ortiz mountains between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, and just at sunset "spotted two fires through field glasses. They appeared were in canyons at the edge of the mesa."
"It may not be them," he said, "but it's a good hunch. We went around by the area but we never did locate the fires after we left that peak."
Earlier, reports were heard that a plane had been seen and heard that a plane had been seen and heard near Santo Domingo Pueblo; near Jemez Pueblo; over Madrid; over Montezuma; over Las Vegas range stations, and at other points. All the reports were checked out as fully as weather conditions permitted. None bore fruit.
Boy Hears Crash.
About 8:30 p.m. HENRY GONZALES, JR., 12, son of a couple living in the Cienega area near Turquoise Trading Post about 15 miles toward Albuquerque from Santa Fe, told his aunt in Albuquerque of having heard a low-flying plane and then a crash in the Cienega Mountains near his home, early Saturday.
MRS. A. GUTIERREZ, the aunt, of 1213 Farelas SW, told the Journal that her nephew had not known a plane was down until he arrived in Albuquerque to visit her Saturday evening. State Police said they would check out the report.
Major A. H. PERRY of the Civil Air Patrol said some 50 members of the CAP, formed into 25 two-man teams, spent the night out in the field Saturday, braving temperatures ranging well below zero to keep a watch for fires or other signs of the downed plane.
Some planes ranged over the rugged country well into the night, but most were grounded until morning.
Scheduled to take off at daybreak were 19 or more CAP planes from Albuquerque plus others from Santa Fe and Los Alamos 10 Air Force planes from Kirkland Air Force Base plus others from Lowry Air Force Base, Denver, and March Air Force Base, Riverside, Calif., a TWA liner plus two Navy Reserve planes flown by TWA pilots from Kansas City; two planes and a helicopter from Clovis Air Force Base; three planes from Amarillo Air Force Base, and many private planes including several rented by TWA officials for use in the search.
The plane was en route to Washington, D. C., and was scheduled to make stops at Santa Fe, Amarillo, Tex., Wichita and Topeka, Kan., Kansas City, Peoria, Ill., Dayton and Columbus, Ohio, and Washington.
Others Listed.
Other occupants of the plane were:
D. A. COLLIER, Conneaut, Ohio.
R. B. RILEY, Dallas, Tex.
R. S. NYALAND, Kansas City, Mo.
H. M. SOUTH, Overland Park, Kan.
W. R. CAMPBELL, Tenafly, N. J.
MR. and MRS. A. S. SCHOONMAKER, Hackensack, N. J.
Crew members were:
Capt. I. R. SPONG, Prairie Village, Kan.
First Officer J. J. CRESSON, JR., Brady Hills, North Kansas City, Mo.
Hostess SHARON SCHOENING, Kansas City, Mo.
The Helmerick and Payne Oil Co., Tulsa, will fly a company plane here today to join in the aerial search for the missing craft.

Albuquerque Journal New Mexico 1955-02-20

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PLANE FOUND; NONE SURVIVES

PILOT FINDS TAIL PIECE OF AIRLINER BY ACCIDENT

GROUND CREWMEN REACH WRECKAGE IN WEST SANDIAS.

The rugged west face of the Sandia Mountains Sunday yielded the scattered and burned wreckage of a Trans World AIrlines plane which apparently carried 13 passengers and three crew members to death.
Bits of the plane, which disappeared early Saturday while on a routine flight from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, were spotted from the air at 9:42 Sunday morning.
Ground crews reached the desolate site of the crash near sundown. They reported no signs of life.
Earlier Lt. Col. WILLIAM L. GIBSON hovered over the wreckage -- the tail assembly -- in an Air Force helicopter and reported flatly: "There could have been no survivors."
Mules Requested.
Members of the ground crews asked for five pack mules late Sunday and will attempt today to bring out any bodies found.
Capt. JOSEPH COSGROVE, commander of an Air Rescue Service plane from Lowry Air Force Base at Denver, said the crash scene was "a splotch of black. It appeared the plane had blown up and blackened the surrounding rocks jet black."
He described the area as a series of perpendicular spires with the tail section impaled on one.
The plane was about 10 miles off course and 13 miles from its point of takeoff, Kirtland field. No one had an explanation as to why the plane apparently continued to swing in a tight right turn into the mountains after taking off in a southeasterly direction.
Motor Trouble Suspected.
There was some speculation that motor or other trouble had developed and that the veteran pilot, I. R. SPONG, was attempting to return to the field. However, there was no explanation why he had not reported in by radio if such was the case.
The spot where the craft struck, while apparently in a steep last-second climb, was about midway between Pino and Domingo Baca canyons southwest of the KOB-KGGM television towers and the site of the old Kiwanis cabin.
State Patrolman BILL LUCAS led the first rescue party to reach the area where the wreckage was scattered. State Police Capt. ARCHIE WHITE said the party had found no bodies before it was forced to suspend operations by darkness to avoid falls which might hurt rescuers.
Camps for Night.
The ground party camped at the foot of the pinnicle where the tail-piece was spotted and was to resume operations this morning. Supplies were dropped in at 6 p.m. by Captains ORRIN SLAUSON and JIM VELYEA. At that time Capt. SLAUSON reported a bright light on top of the pinnacle, opposite the tail piece. He reported two fires at the foot of the pinnacle and another some 250 feet below where a second party camped. Other would-be rescuers came down to the spot from the rim road one of New Mexico's scenic spots.
JACK HICKS, who lives on the east slope of the range, said he was about 250 yards from the craig long before dark.
He said the plane "plowed right into a sheer wall."
"On top," he said, "a piece of the tail stood out, and pieces of something that looked like rags whipped in the wind. The tail was still smoking.
Remnants Scattered.
"Farther down, on a sort of shelf, lay what looked like part of the fuselage. Pieces were scattered over other small rock ledges all the way down the cliff."
"There was a passage between the pinnacle and the main cliff about 75 feet wide. I don't think the pilot could have made it through there, but if he'd been 100 feet higher he would have cleared it."
It was JAMES BIXLER, chief pilot for Carro Air Service, who spotted the wreckage from the air. That was the climax of one of the largest search operations in recent history, which started Saturday shortly after the plane disappeared. The pilot had radioed in three minutes after takeoff but was not heard from again.

Albuquerque Journal New Mexico 1955-02-21
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!