20 KILLED IN PLANE CRASH NEAR BRADFORD.

ALLEGHENY PROPJET SLAMS INTO MARSHY AREA SHORT OF RUNWAY.

Bradford, Pa. (AP) -- Holiday joy turned to tragedy Christmas Day for families faced with the grim task of identifying the bodies of 20 relatives killed in an airliner crash that injured 27 others.
The twin-engine Allegheny Airlines Convair 580, a propjet flying from Detroit to Washington, was making what airline spokesmen said was a routine landing approach to Bradford Regional Airport in a light snowfall Tuesday night when it slammed into a marshy area about three miles short of the runway.
Rescue teams labored through deep snow and driving squalls to reach the crumpled plane. The injured were rushed to hospitals in Bradford and Kane. At least one was in serious condition, the others fair to satisfactory.
Airline arranged a special flight from Eastern Pennsylvania and flew in relatives of many of the plane's passengers to this town near the New York border.
Grim-faced, they walked into a gayly decorated Bradfore motel where the airline established a crash headquarters.
The bodies of the dead, meantime, were being held at a makeshift morgue in a fire hall, at the little town of Cyclone near the airport.
The plane, Allegheny flight 736, had left Detroit and landed at Erie, Pa., before heading for Bradford. It had been scheduled to go on to Harrisburg, Pa., before flying on to the nation's capital.
When it crashed, the plane was carrying a crew of three and 44 passengers, three of whom were Allegheny employes.
The pilot, Capt. GARY L. MULL of Fairfax, Va., and first officer RICHARD B. GARDNER of Springfield, VA., were killed.
Hostess RITA BOYLEN, 23, of Alexandria, Va., survived.
An airline spokesman said the crew contacted Bradford Airport by radio shortly before the crash and gave no sign of trouble.
The plane clipped the tops off some small trees on the edge of a frozen marsh, skidded along the ground for about a quarter mile, then spun around and flipped over on its back.
The impact sheared off the wings, leaving only stubs and cracked open the fuselage in the wing area.
A survivor, GREGORY TOIN, 42, of Pottsville, Pa., said the passengers had no warning.
"We were instructed to fasten our seat belts in preparation for a landing at Bradford," he said, "and it seemed as if we were headed for the runway in a normal fashion."
"Then we crashed in what seemed to be a gully near a dirt road. I was knocked out for a time, and when I regained consciousness I started to kick out a window and couldn't. Then I saw there was a large split in the fuselage above me, so I crawled out of it."
RON VAN PELT, 26, of Plymouth, Mich., built a bonfire out of debris to keep himself and the other survivors warm. The flames were seen from the air by the crew of another Allegheny Airlines plane who radioed the location to the airport tower.
Firemen and other volunteers jumped into ambulances, trucks, jeeps and snowmobiles and rode through heavy snow and 10 degree temperatures to the crash site.
A 10-man team from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived at the crash site early Christmas Day and said they found the plane's cockpit voice recorder and a flight recorder in good condition.
The devices record all conversation between pilot and co-pilot and other information, such as speed and altitude, that are vital to investigators trying to find out what caused the crash.
NAMES OF DEAD RELEASED.
Washington (AP) -- Allegheny Airlines listed 20 persons Wednesday as having lost their lives in the crash of a Convair prop-jet at Bradford, Pa.
Hometowns of the victims were not available, the airline said.
The dead:
MISS ROBIN PORTER, flying from Detroit to Harrisburg.
MISS E. LUTZ, Detroit to Harrisburg.
MISS CHRIS FARLOW, Detroit to Harrisburg.
W. W. DAY, Detroit to Harrisburg.
H. WALZE, Detroit to Harrisburg.
JOSEPH KING, Detroit to Harrisburg.
ARTHUR SINCLAIR, Detroit to Harrisburg.
W. O'CONNOR, Detroit to Harrisburg.
MRS. W. O'CONNOR, Detroit to Harrisburg.
DR. JOHN BOYD, Erie to Harrisburg.
J. STAMBAUGH, Erie to Harrisburg.
MRS. J. STAMBAUGH, Erie to Harrisburg.
MISS ANGEL, Erie to Harrisburg.
MISS VERA CIANELLA, Erie to Washington.
JAN UHLER, Erie to Harrisburg.
C. BAUER, Detroit to Bradford.
Capt. GARY L. MULL, Pilot.
First Officer RICHARD B. GARDNER, Co-pilot.
First Officer LOWELL MILLER, Detroit to Washington.

The Derrick Oil City Pennsylvania 1968-12-26

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JOY OF HOLIDAY ENDS IN CRASH OF AIRLINER.

20 KILLED, 27 INJURED.

Bradford, Pa. (AP) -- A young woman coming home to spend the holidays with her parents. A salesman returning from a business trip for a reunion with his children. Two members of a family of four going to meet relatives on the other side of Pennsylvania.
These are some of the 20 people killed when Allegheny Airlines Flight No. 736 struck a mountain on Christmas Eve. Twenty-seven others were injured.
AN ONLY CHILD.
CHRISTINE FARLOW, 20, an only child left her parent's house in Copeland, Pa., nearly a year ago to take an office job with Allegheny Airlines in Detroit, Mich. She was coming home for Christmas. MR. and MRS. HOWARD FARLOW were waiting for her at the Harrisburg Airport.
She never met them. CHRISTINE was killed when the twin-engine prop-jet crashed while approaching Bradford Regional Airport, a stop away from the reunion. It slammed into an icy marsh midway up the mountain and overturned.
BONFIRE FOR WARMTH.
Volunteers in ambulances, trucks, jeeps and snowmobiles rushed to the downed craft. One of the survivors RON VAN PELT, 26, of Camp Hill, Pa., started a bonfire to keep himself and the others warm in the 10 degree temperature and its light helped guide the rescuers.
Waiting in Camp Hill, Pa., for JOSEPH KING, were his wife and four of his five children. The fifth, 17-year-old CHRISTINE KING, was riding in the plane with him.
The three older KING children, a relative said, arrived earlier from Michigan and Detroit for a Christmas gathering.
KING, a 52-year-old sales manager for a carpet company was killed in the crash. His daughter was injured and taken to Bradford Hospital.
LEWIS C. ANGEL, JR., 44, and his son, LEWIS C. ANGEL III, 21, were in the same room Wednesday at Bradford Hospital. The bodies of ANGEL'S wife and daughter were resting in the same funeral home 30 miles away in Kane, Pa.
INVESTIGATION PUSHED.
An investigating team of 35 men started its probe of the crash of the Convair 580. The flight orginated in Detroit and was scheduled to end in Washington.
"At this point in the investigation, all we're doing is collecting facts," said Russell J. Abbott, air safety director for the National Transportation Safety Board.
The lucky 27 who survived the crash have started checking out of hospitals.
"This was the biggest Christmas present I ever had," said TERRIE GROSS, 20, ignoring her frostbitten feet, cut legs and badly bruised forehead. "I'm alive."

The Moberly Monitor-Index Missouri 1968-12-26

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The following is from the New Castle News Pennsylvania 1968-12-26

Listing of the Survivors Of the Allegheny Airlines Crash at Bradford, Pa.
C. DIZIO, no address.
T. HAVERSTOCK, Harrisburg, Pa.
GREGORY TOBIN, Pottsville, Pa.
HAROLD E. SMITH, Warren, Mich.
MRS. ELISA SLAVBODA, Detroit.
MRS. TERRY GROSS, Detroit.
MRS. JANICE WALZE, Wayne, Mich.
ERIN WALZE, an infant, Wayne, Mich.
MRS. C. KING, Detroit.
R. VAN PELT, Harrisburg, Pa.
ROBERT ANGEL, Erie, Pa.
LEWIS ANGEL, Robert's father, Erie, Pa.
BILLY GOODMOTE, Los Angeles, Calif.
TOMMY GOODMOTE, Billy's brother, Los Angeles, Calif.
DR. F. DANKMEYER, Rochester, Minn.
MISS SUSAN WYAND, Erie, Pa.
MISS S. GARTNER, Erie, Pa.
MISS BRENDA BYRD, Willoughby, Ohio.
MRS. JANE BYRD, Willoughby, Ohio.
MISS BETTY BYRD, Willoughby, Ohio.
MR. J. BRENNAN, Harrisburg, Pa.
MISS R. ZIMMERMAN, Harrisburg, Pa.
MR. R. BROWN, Lebanon, Pa.
MR. R. NASADOS, Mt. Carmel, Pa.
Capt. NEVIN REMALLY, an off-duty Allegheny pilot returning to home base in Washington.
RITA BOYLAN, a hostess who was on duty, based in Washington.
REBA FRIEDRICH, an off-duty Allegheny hostess returning to home base in Washington.

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