United Airlines Flight 736 DC-7Mid-Air Collision near Las Vegas,  49 Fatalities on April 21, 1958

United Airlines Flight 736 was a daily U.S. transcontinental passenger flight operated by United Airlines that crashed on April 21, 1958, following a mid-air collision. The aircraft assigned to Flight 736, a Douglas DC-7 airliner carrying 47 persons, was flying at cruise altitude above  9 miles south of Las Vegas to a stopover at Denver, Colorado, when it was struck by a United States Air Force fighter jet crewed by two pilots. The collision occurred at 8:30 a.m. in clear weather within a major commercial airway; both aircraft fell out of control from 21,000 feet and crashed into the desert southwest of Las Vegas, Nevada.

There were no survivors from either aircraft, and with 49 fatalities it remains the deadliest crash in the history of the Las Vegas Valley. Among the victims were a group of military personnel and civilian contractors involved with sensitive Department of Defense weapons systems. The loss of the group triggered new rules prohibiting similar groups engaged in critical projects from flying aboard the same aircraft.

The official investigation stated that cockpit visibility limitations played a role in the accident, but also faulted military and civilian aviation authorities for not taking measures to reduce well-known collision risks that had existed for over a year within the confines of airways, despite numerous complaints from airline crews. The loss of United Airlines Flight 736—part of a series of 1950s mid-air collisions in American skies, including the well-publicized 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision—helped usher in widespread improvements in air traffic control within the United States.

The Crash Site location is 35°59’59″N 115°12’20″W, near Southern Highlands Golf Club,near the corner of West Cactus Ave and South Decatur Blvd, currently there is a strip-mall and houses built on/near the impact site.

Source and Photo:
Wikipedia.org

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