Two young sisters being dropped off the Dexter bus along Old Creamery Road south of Dexter heard the plane sputter, just to the southwest of their rural home. My sister and I watched it descend to the south until we could no longer see or hear it.
Kids being dropped off the Earlham bus on the road a mile east of us watched the same troubled plane.
From where he was working in the barn, Dad (a World War II pilot and instructor) could hear a plane in distress. He headed for the house. Soon we were all bundled up and Dad, along with half the neighborhood, drove toward the area where it went down.
By the time we got there, our bus driver John Herrick had completed his route, the returned to the plane to see if he could help. The 36 passengers and 3 crew were shaken up but okay, so he drove them into Dexter. They gathered in the bank to warm up and to be checked out by Dexter’s doctors Chapler and Osborn, before deciding how to get to their destinations.
The twin engine United Airlines Convair, heading to Omaha from Des Moines, began to have trouble over Madison County. With little control, the pilot crash landed the plane in the Hochstetlers’ field, then slid through fences and across a gravel road, coming to rest in the Lenockers’ field of corn stubble.
How amazing that all 39 people aboard that plane survived. Plane was disassembled, pieces lifted into trucks by crane, and hauled to the Dexter train station. Flatcars carried them to the Convair plant in San Diego for repair. The airliner became a cargo plane, flying another 34 years.
The captain, first officer, and stewardess were given bonuses for the successful handling of the crippled plane. The Lenockers, who served meals to the men who salvaged the plane, were given a set of dishes, which family members still enjoy today. The Hochstetlers got a United Airlines check for $25 for the three fences destroyed by the plane. They still have the uncashed check as a souvenir.
A chunk of the plane’s propeller is on loan to the Dexter Historical Museum by the Hostetler family. Their son-in-law, Tom Fagen, has made a video of the history of the crash and the plane itself as well as a detailed diorama. The diorama may be seen in the Iowa Aviation Museum at the Greenfield Municipal Airport.
What caused the plane to crash that winter day? Human error. A Civil Aeronautics Board investigation found that a fastener, or elevator bolt, on the elevator linkage had been removed the night before during a scheduled airframe inspection, but not reinstalled. For the want of a bolt.
Ah, remembering the days when people ran to an accident to help out and not just to gawk.
We were among the gawkers, but our bus driver certainly did the right thing!
Dad, and us brothers also drove the few miles to check it out after school bus driver, Merle Leeper had dropped us off. We heard it and saw it a mile or so SW of us. That would be very near your home farm. It seems I remember hearing it “brushed” tree tops at Dad’s cousin’s farm, Paul Willrich. Just west of you. It was exciting seeing sections of the plane on rail flat cars in Dexter in the following days.
I didn’t know you also had history with the plane. Gloria and I watched it go down after hearing it in trouble! We went over later and I ended up with frostbite. Oh, Paul Willrich also owned the farm east of us, so that would make sense!
A very interesting account, and to think that you were able to witness part of that historic event! I especially enjoyed the video–a tribute to the manufacture of such an aircraft and to the skill and training of the pilot and crew who brought her down safely and without loss of life or serious injury.
Dennis, so amazing that everyone survived. The son of the copilot later contacted Tom Fagen and wanted to see where it happened. Tom lives not far from the site so showed him all around.
You have some of the most interesting family stories to share. I hope your relatives appreciate that you are preserving them for posterity. As one of your followers, I know I do.
Bless you, Linda. After Mom died (2015) my sister and I visited the Dexter museum. I was amazed at how many stories there I connected with, things I’d taken for granted! But discovering genealogy when my husband was stationed in Idaho (before he was sent to Vietnam) set my trajectory for life, so I’ve ended up as the keeper of old letters and photos, clippings, etc. I guess I’ve become historic!
Another of Dad’s cousin’s, Carl Jobst also drove over. He had worked on the military version of the plane in the Air Force. He was able to get close to the plane and before dark knew that a bolt was missing. Of course, the elevator system controls pitch, nose up and down. We first saw the plane tail low and engines at high power, really roaring. I agree, getting it bellied-in on a field with no injuries, quite a job of aviating !
Amen!
How very fortunate that all survived this crash. They certainly didn’t have all the safety features then that we have today.
You’re so right, Eilene!
What a great story, told well as always. You are the best!
Thanks, Dave. I’m historic! I got frostbite that day and have dealt with wimpy fingers and toes ever since!
Oh my goodness. What a slice of history, Joy. I love that the check for $25.00 remains uncashed. And your father’s knowing ears? I bet his blood ran cold in that moment – expertly aware of what he heard. Thank you for sharing. 💕
And to think I was 10 years old and saw it happen, well, after my sis and I heard it sputtering!
Amazing, Joy. Just amazing. 🥰
Another fascinating piece of Dexter history! The passengers and crew were so fortunate to come out unscathed.
They sure were! Thank you, Liz.
You’re welcome, Joy.
An exciting post, Joy. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, John!
😊
Wow – what an incredible story. I love how you told it from several points of view. Thank goodness everyone was okay – amazing!
Thanks, Wynne. It was fun to learn that kids on the Earlham bus were watching the same thing but a mile east of us!
Convair produced several models, including turbojets later on. This one in the rural Dexter, Iowa incident was a C-240, I believe. When I started with Delta in early 1973, we still used the Convair 880, a 4-engine jet. Only about 90-passenger capacity and clouds of black exhaust on takeoff. How aviation has changed!
It sure has!
Amazing, Joy! Great that no one died in that emergency landing.
Yes!
Fascinating story!! Of course, it wouldn’t be so fascinating if there was a tragic loss of life. 🙂
Minnie’s story is so sad. She was their only daughter. https://joynealkidney.com/2020/05/01/a-may-day-tragedy/
Minnie, her fiance, their horse all drowned? That must have been devastating to the families.
Yes, an her beau!
[…] For the want of a bolt: The forced landing of an airliner in rural Iowa, January 19, 1955 by Joy on Joy Neal Kidney […]
My dad was a Navy aviator, and would have reacted exactly as your father did. What a story! So glad that there were no serious injuries, and that everyone survived.
Amen. Thank you, Karen.