Delta Air Lines Flight 705

Delta Air Lines Flight 705
	Douglas DC-4 of Delta Air Lines in at Chicago Midway International Airport in 1947
Accident
Date	10 March 1948
Site	Chicago, United States
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Douglas DC-4
Operator	Delta Air Lines
Flight origin	Chicago Municipal Airport, United States
Destination	Miami International Airport, United States
Occupants	13
Passengers	9
Crew	4
Fatalities	12
Survivors	1

Delta Air Lines Flight 705 (flight number: DL705, radio call sign: DELTA 705) was a regularly scheduled Delta Air Lines domestic flight from Chicago Municipal Airport, to Miami International Airport.

On 10 March 1948, a Douglas DC-4 crashed while taking off from Chicago Municipal Airport. The accident, occurring during the initial climb, killed 12 of the 13 people on board. The accident happened due to a loss of longitudinal controllability but the cause of the loss of control is unknown.

Aircraft

The aircraft was a Douglas DC-4 with the serial number 18390, built during the Second World War as a military version C-54B-15-DO at the Douglas Aircraft Company factory in Santa Monica, California, with military aircraft registration number 43-17190. After its final assembly in 1944 she was delivered to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). After its military service ended, the aircraft was converted into a civilian DC-4 and registered for Delta Air Lines on 29 April 1946 with aircraft registration number NC37478. The aircraft was equipped with four Pratt & Whitney R-2000-2SD-13G Twin Wasp radial engines. At the time of the accident, the machine had flown for 6,509 hours.^[1]

Crew

There were nine passengers and four crew members on board. The captain was the 36-year-old Grover L. Holloway who was with Delta Air Lines since 1939. He had 9,830 hours of flying hours, including 1,611 hours on a Douglas DC-4 aircraft. The first officer was the 26-year-old John S. Disosway who was with Delta Air Lines since 1946 after gaining extensive experience as a pilot in the US Army Air Forces (USAAF). He had 2,976 hours of flying experience, including 1,366 hours on the Douglas DC-4.

Accident

On 10 March 1948 the plane initially flew from Miami International Airport to Chicago Municipal Airport where it landed at 9:06 pm. For the return flight, the plane departed from the gate at 10:45 p.m. and took off from the right southbound runway was at 10:57 p.m. At the time of the takeoff it was snowing.^[2] The takeoff appeared to be normal until an altitude of 150-200 feet was reached. The aircraft took on an increasingly steep pitch angle until it rose almost vertically. At an altitude of 500-800 feet, a stall occurred and the aircraft fell nose-first and over the right wing towards the ground. A partial recovery from the stall was made before the aircraft crashed to the ground and burst into flames. As a result of the accident, the aircraft caught fire.^[3] After an hour the fire was still not extinguished and burned down.^[4]^[5] The four crew members and eight of the nine passengers died. The sole survivor was Tripolina Meo, who lost her son in the crash.^[6]

Investigation

The accident was investigated by the Civil Aeronautics Board. Over a year after the accident, on 13 June 1949 they published their report. The investigators were able to determine the cause of the accident being as a loss of longitudinal controllability of the aircraft. However, they were unable to determine the cause of the loss of control.^[1]^[7]