.jpg) A Douglas DC-3, similar to the accident aircraft | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | January 16, 1942 |
| Summary | Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error |
| Site | Potosi Mountain, Nevada, U.S. 35°57′04″N 115°29′29″W / 35.9510°N 115.4914°W |
| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-3 |
| Operator | Transcontinental and Western Air |
| Registration | NC1946 |
| Flight origin | New York, New York, U.S. |
| 1st stopover | Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. |
| 2nd stopover | St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| 3rd stopover | Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. |
| 4th stopover | Las Vegas Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. |
| Destination | Burbank, California, U.S. |
| Occupants | 22 |
| Passengers | 19 |
| Crew | 3 |
| Fatalities | 22 |
| Survivors | 0 |
TWA Flight 3 was a twin-engine Douglas DC-3-382 propliner, registration NC1946, operated by Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA) as a scheduled domestic passenger flight from New York, New York, to Burbank, California, in the United States, via several stopovers including Las Vegas, Nevada.[1] On January 16, 1942, at 19:20 PST, fifteen minutes after takeoff from Las Vegas Airport (now Nellis Air Force Base) bound for Burbank, the aircraft was destroyed when it crashed into a sheer cliff on Potosi Mountain, 32 miles (51 km) southwest of the airport, at an elevation of 7,770 ft (2,370 m) above sea level.[2] All 22 people on board, including movie star Carole Lombard, her mother, Clark Gable's press agent, Otto Winkler, three crew members, and 15 U.S. Army soldiers died in the crash. The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) investigated the accident and determined that the cause was a navigation error by the captain.[1]
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
cabwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "ASN accident record". ASN. Retrieved October 6, 2023.