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United Airlines collision over State Island...



Item # 560046

December 16, 1960

LEOMINSTER DAILY ENTERPRISE, Massachusetts MA December 16, 1960

* United Airlines Flight 826 (early report)
* Airplane collision over Staten Island New York
* Stephen Baltz (miracle survivor)


This 16 page newspaper has a two column headline on the front page:

* Two Airliners Collide Over N.Y.; 124 Killed


Tells of the horrific crash with mention of the 11 year old who was the sole survivor. He later died though.

Other news of the day throughout. Minor spine wear, otherwise in good condition.

wikipedia notes: The 1960 New York air disaster was a collision on December 16, 1960, between two airliners over Staten Island, New York City, New York, United States, in which one plane crashed into Staten Island and the other airliner crashed into Park Slope, a Brooklyn neighborhood. The crash killed all 84 people aboard Flight 826 and 44 on Flight 266 as well as six people on the ground.

Stephen Baltz (January 9, 1949-December 17, 1960) was the only person to initially survive the crash of United Airlines Flight 826 after it collided with another plane on December 16, 1960, in a snowstorm over Staten Island. The eleven-year-old boy from Wilmette, Illinois was flying alone to meet his mother and sister, who flew in the day before; they were planning to spend Christmas in Yonkers with family. On impact with the ground, Baltz was thrown from the plane into a snowbank, where local residents rolled him in the snow to extinguish his burning clothing. Though alive and conscious following the crash, the boy was burned and suffering from smoke inhalation. Stephen later died of his injuries in Park Slope's New York Methodist Hospital. A plaque was installed in the hospital's chapel in memory of the victims of this air disaster; part of the plaque contains sixty-five cents in blackened change from Stephen Baltz's pocket.

Category: The 20th Century