Eddie Rickenbacker - Before the Crash
(Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)
In my seven-year research on the Winecoff Hotel fire, I came across many possible side projects to investigate more. I extensively went through research on many events that occurred at the Winecoff Hotel over the roughly thirty-year period in which the hotel was in operation, from late 1913 to the time of the fire on December 7, 1946. Many events had occurred at the hotel such as piano recitals, organization meetings and one investigation that made me delve into the reason why this was held here.
This investigation stemmed from the Rickenbacker air crash that occurred just south of Atlanta late in the evening of February 26, 1941. This flight was Eastern Air Lines Flight 21, in which the aircraft was a Douglas DC-3. The plane was making an approach to land at Candler Field, which is now Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, situated to the south of downtown Atlanta. Of the thirteen passengers and three crew members on board, eight were killed, including Maryland Congressman William D. Byron and all three crew members including Captain James Perry, Co-Pilot Luther Thomas, and Flight Steward Clarence Moore. The most famous dignitary on the flight was World War I ace pilot Edward "Eddie" Rickenbacker, who was president of Eastern Airlines at the time.
The flight left originally from LaGuardia Airport in New York at 7:21pm with several scheduled stopovers, the first being Washington Hoover Airport, then Candler Field in Atlanta. If the crash had not occurred there would have been a third stopover at Moisant Field in New Orleans, another at Houston Municipal Airport, with a final destination at Brownsville, Texas. The plane crashed close to midnight just south of Candler Field. The survivors were able to lodge in a piece of intact fuselage until they were rescued over six hours later around 6:30 the following morning. Below is a list of victims and some of the survivors.
Crewmembers
Captain James A. Perry, age 29, was killed.
Captain James Perry
(Courtesy of Find A Grave)
Co-Pilot Luther E. Thomas, age 31, was killed.
Co-Pilot Luther Thomas
(Courtesy of Find A Grave)
Flight Steward Clarence Moore, was killed.
Passengers
William Byron - Congressman from Maryland
(Courtesy of Find A Grave)
William Byron, age 45, was killed. He was a Democratic congressman who was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland’s 6th District.
B.C.M. Van der Hoop was killed. He was from Scarsdale, N.Y. and was a vice-president of the Tin Processing Corporation.
A man by the last name of Leibowitz, who was from Atlanta and killed and another man by the last name of Maria, from San Salvador, was killed as well.
Survivors
Edward Rickenbacker
H.A. Littledale of Short Hills, N.J., an assistant to the managing editor of the New York Times.
Mrs. H.A. Littledale, an editor of Parent magazine.
The accident investigation describes what happened. “A survey of the wreckage disclosed that, while traveling in a northerly direction, aircraft NC 28394 had first struck the tops of three small pine trees growing on a knoll located 1500 feet south of the final resting place. The lowest tree was struck at an elevation of 915 feet above sea level. The tops of these trees were broken off and several small pieces of red glass were picked up from the ground in this area, indicating that the left, or red, navigation light was shattered by contact with the trees. The aircraft apparently continued in an almost level flight attitude across a small valley in a northerly direction for approximately 1500 feet. There is an open field in this valley which is bordered on the north and east by a thick growth of pine and north of the field the terrain rises gently for a distance of several hundred feet. As the plane reached the northeast corner of the field, the right wing tip struck the top of a poplar tree standing on the edge of the field. The point of impact with this tree was 946 feet above sea level. The aircraft then struck several scattered pine trees and finally crashed in a thick pine grove.” The aircraft was completely demolished with pieces of wreckage hanging from trees.
Rickenbacker barely survived the crash and was in intensive care for ten days and spent four months in an Atlanta hospital. When he was found by rescuers, Rickenbacker was soaked in fuel and was trapped in the wreckage. In Rickenbacker’s autobiography, he described his injuries, the most bizarre being his left eyeball distended from its socket and hanging on the side of his face, which probably occurred in the aftermath of the crash when moving about the broken fuselage. He also suffered a fractured skull, a shattered left elbow, a paralyzed left hand, a few broken ribs, a crushed hip socket, a pelvis that was broken in two places and a broken left knee. It is a wonder he survived the crash.
In the accident investigation at the Winecoff Hotel, forty witnesses gave testimony. Rickenbacker was still in critical condition when the investigation started in early March of 1941. He would be interviewed once he came out of intensive care later in the investigation. The CAB investigation determined that the probable cause of the accident “was the failure of the captain in charge of the flight to exercise the proper degree of care by not checking his altimeters to determine whether both were correctly set and properly functioning before commencing his landing approach.”
To understand the problem with altimeters, it is important to understand that during this period in flight history a plane was required to have two altimeters, one which was set to sea level air pressure (expressed in inches of mercury) which was monitored during flight and a second one set to the air pressure at the airport that the aircraft was about to approach to land. This latter altimeter had been set incorrectly, causing the plane to be lower than anticipated upon approach to the runway. The altimeter setting at Candler Field was 28.94 but the approach altimeter had been set to 29.92 inches, enough difference to cause the crash.
Thanks for learning!