I was in a special class at Montague Street School when it happened. Our teacher pushed us back into the safety of the classroom, where we stood at the windows for hours watching the emergecy crews working. My buddy and I ran for the door, jumped the banister of the stairs and positioned ourselves so we could see what was happening. [6][7] Recurring nightmares of the disaster led to Valens' fear of flying,[8] which he overcame after he launched his music career. I plan to visit the site, hopefully in the afternoon of June 4. Some of the people profiled are famous, but most are not. If so, did you learn the identity of the teacher aiding the injured student? The most vivid memory I have of that day was of my moms worry (her husband and daughter were at Pacoima JH that day). I remember January 31, 1957, like it was yesterday. Thank God she made it back safely. I have seen La Bamba a few times and its reference to this crash always makes me think about my roots again. Its unusual enough to meet a fellow native Southern Californian these days, let alone four all connected in some way to the crash. I was five years Oldfield at a nearby nursery school when this happened. Maybe 500 to 1000 feet off the ground. I had been on my brand new Schwinn bicycle, riding on the sidewalk on Stanford Avenue across the street from my house on Sunburst Avenue. I was dripping, head to toe, from the oil and now walking with a limp rather than running. Thanks for the post/tape. Last night I saw it again and it and a recent visit to San Fernando got me looking at pictures of the Valley in the 50s. Oh my God this is something horrible, and i cannot even imageine the horror people who experienced the plane crash went through. At impact I was blown over the bleachers and landed in a pool of hot oil. The bus trip that day went to Roger Jessups Farm. right across from the faculty driveway. The journey back to the morning of Jan. 31, 1957, began with a phone call from retired nurse Mary Lewandowski, who wondered how to find out what had happened to the two boys she'd spent four. First, when I was in the room with Lloyd Hopkins he told me we were running to get behind the handball wall. 8th and 9th grades. {\fonttbl\f0\fmodern\fcharset0 Courier;} Actually, played might be overstating it somewhat. Part of an engine crashed through the roof of the church auditorium, smashing windows and destroying that building. Today, I still have problems with low flying planes, which happens often in Littlerock, CA. Come to find out, with the exception of me, all were native Southern Californians. Someone told me at the time that the pilot never ejected, but stayed in the plane and flew in to the field on purpose to avoid nearby houses. I always remembered it in my mind, but this was the first time I heard it againamazing, its just the way I remembered. I agree terrific site, very informative. I was in the auditorium on the day of the crash, practicing for my graduation. Yeah, I liked him too. (we might even have been in the same kindergarten class Mrs. Aldridge was the teachers name. Pretty amazing, considering that today that same brain cant even remember where it put its keys. Hi, Nicholas The History Guy made a report of this crash recently (July, 2018): Hi, Dan yeah, I checked it out. As it completed the turn, the jet slammed into the wing of a DC-7B transport plane returning to Douglas Aircrafts Santa Monica plant on a routine test run. I think the last time I saw him was on stage together with an offshoot of the Showmen we opened for Eric Burton and the Animals at the Carousel Theater in, uh, Covina, I think. He and his family were members of the Pacoima Congregational Church. In 1987 the crash was spotlighted again in the movie La Bamba as the reason Richie Valens, the 50s rock icon and Pacoima favorite son, was afraid to fly. When the plane hit, the shock waves rolled me over and over and over. If anyone wants to talk to you about the crash, they can contact me and Id be happy to pass along your email address to them after checking with you. Well drawn memories like yours add dimension to the story and help to give those of us who werent there a better idea of the situation, awful as it was. My sister and I lost touch with Cindy, his sister, in the late sixties. Coincidentally enough, my sister told me on the phone yesterday that she attended the San Fer reunion with her chum, Carol Crockett (maiden name). In fact, the thought that those sons or daughters might be traumatized by hearing the recording almost kept me from posting it. They were very good and practiced all the time. Yeah, that is one stunning little piece of Valley history like an audio time capsule. The fighter jet's pilot, Roland E. Owen, died when the aircraft plummeted in flames into La Tuna Canyon in the Verdugo Mountains. But, you may recall, you posted your comment on the Eyewitness to the Carnage A Personal Account of the 1957 Pacoima Crash page, not the page containing Pacoima Jr. High School Airplane Crash of 1957 (audio recording as it happened). Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. I was only seven years old when this crash happened, and it has stuck with me all of my life. An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Im a cousin of Ronnie Brann who lost his life that day. Hope this clears up a question of rotary ect. I appreciated your comments. He was a Sabre Jet mechanic. Eight months after this crash, our family of four boarded a Northwest Orient Airlines DC-7 to fly to Japan where we moved to live for four years. From a fellow Beachy-ite, thanks for commenting Pacoima Jr High School Airplane Crash of 1957 - YouTube 0:00 / 2:15 Pacoima Jr High School Airplane Crash of 1957 Psycho Circus 325 subscribers Subscribe 92 Share 6.1K views 2 years. Hi Jill Pam often checks in to read the latest comments here. A school official tries to calm the students by announcing, It was a jet blast. As images of actual events are sometimes not available, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration. Thanks for the opportunity. Our big issues revolved around determine which patients should be transported first and how much treatment should be done at the scene prior to transport. Years later, my husband worked with a gentlemen named Pat, who lost his leg in the event. I remember hearing a loud screaming sound. Those sights would have been tough enough for any adult to handle, let alone elementary-aged kids. Dolores Smith Pope. By fortune, all of those classrooms students were assembled on the other side of the school; had the children been there, the death toll would have been much higher. Then again, I was only five so everything probably sounded unusual. It was cold that day and we had not changed into our gym clothes. I posted a comment on Russ Buchanans website some time ago asking anyone who was on the field that day to contact me. I was just a tyke, but somehow I remembered your Evan connection and that he had red hair and freckles. Thanks to Gary and Russ. still later my father showed up to take me home from school in the middle of the afternoon and told me what had happened. I had a clear view of the plane. We used to visit him at the hospital while he was recovering and suffering through painful skin grafts. just let me know. Yeah, I do believe I would have been a wee bit nervous about flying in a type of plane that seems to keep crashing into other planes. After assuring the young ladys safety and involvement in counseling, I turned my attention to the broader family issues. This crash and another (DC7 and Connie midair over the Grand Canyon July 1956) put the fear of flying into me. killing all 128 aboard on both of . The explosion knocked my Dad off the chair he was sitting on. Johnny and I were friends and I remember having dinner with your family. I rarely get to southern California but I will be in the area on June 4 and June 5. I am devastated by the deaths and injuries but so thankful that there were not more. We heard the noise going over us, in the direction of the Junior High. Your account is the first Id heard about Berger and his music therapy pulling him through ah, the power of music. Days later we were allowed back into class because a large piece of metal flew through and embedded in to the wall. As far as I know, this is the only recording of the Pacoima crash: Click on following link: [This recording is the property of Russ Buchanan. The last transmission from the co-pilot was from Archie Twitchell, an uncle of mine. well the show did an episode covering the collision between a f-4b of the usmc and hughes airwest 706 a dc-9 in 1971 and from the animation it must have horrible as the dc-9 come down like a falling leaf till impact with mount bliss, i honestly wonder to myself if we take how safe flying is today for granted cause an accident like this has becoming very rare nowadays with tcas and improved radars. The only memories I have of the day were the metal bits raining down and my very nervous mother (my sister and father were both on campus when the plane came down). Most memorable to me was the large black mushroom cloud of smoke immediately after impact. And then someone pointed high in the sky and we saw a parachute (which turned out to be the surviving crewman of the F89) and watched it descend and it appeared to land not too far from our school. I looked up and to this day could swear that some one in the nose of that spinning plane was waving their arms. The journey back to the morning of Jan. 31, 1957, began with a phone call from retired nurse Mary Lewandowski, who wondered how to find out what had happened to the two boys she'd spent four months caring for at Sun Valley Hospital nearly 50 years earlier. The more people who comment on this story, the more I understand how traumatic this awful event was for the kids who witnessed it. Anyway, I may remember Nanci. As I wrote above, he almost never spoke of the disaster. It seems many of the commenters here have vivid recollections of that day. I think there was a lot of heroism on that day, but few names have been mentioned. It was more information than I had ever heard about. Three students and . I was totally mesmerized by it. I can only imagine the horrors and the sadness you witnessed that day. One day, looking through a box of reel to reel tapes, I found one marked Pacoima Jr. High School airplane crash (1957). That is likely what Paul played at the dedication. the sky. We didnt know if the plane parts had landed in the elementary school classrooms. I looked at the newspaper page showing the pictures of those of us who were injured and saw mine and his. Probably some sort of WordPress glitch or other. [5], The collision was blamed on pilot error and the failure of both aircraft crews to exercise proper "see and avoid" procedures regarding other aircraft while operating under visual flight rules (VFR). The DC7 had the outer wing clipped off.out further than the outboard engine. I was there and a classmate of your sister Pam. I was young and that is all I know. Three students and . It was so long ago and still a vibrant memory. 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