View source for Eastern Air Lines Flight 537

{{Short description|1949 mid-air collision}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox Aircraft accident
| name            = Eastern Air Lines Flight 537
| date            = {{Start date|1949|11|1}}
| type            = [[Mid-air collision]]
| occurrence_type = Accident
| site            = [[Alexandria, Virginia]], United States
| coordinates     = {{coord|38|50.1|N|77|02.7|W|region:US-DC_type:landmark_scale:30000|display=inline}}
| total_injuries  = 1
| total_fatalities = 55
| total_survivors = 1
| plane1_type     = [[Douglas DC-4]]
| plane1_image    = Douglas C-54 Eastern Air Lines (4590434096).jpg
| plane1_caption  = An Eastern Air Lines Douglas DC-4, similar to the one involved in the crash
| plane1_operator = [[Eastern Air Lines]]
| plane1_callsign = EASTERN 537
| plane1_tailnum  = {{airreg|N|88727}}
| plane1_occupants = 55
| plane1_passengers = 51
| plane1_crew     = 4
| plane1_fatalities = 55
| plane1_survivors = 0
| plane2_type     = [[Lockheed P-38 Lightning|Lockheed P-38L Lightning]]
| plane2_image    = Lockheed P-38L-5 Lightning in flight.jpg
| plane2_caption  = A Lockheed P-38L Lightning, the type involved in the crash
| plane2_operator = Lockheed
| plane2_callsign = BOLIVIAN 927
| plane2_tailnum  = NX-26927
| plane2_occupants = 1
| plane2_crew     = 1
| plane2_fatalities = 0
| plane2_injuries = 1
| plane2_survivors = 1
| origin          = [[LaGuardia Airport]], Queens, New York, U.S.
| destination     = [[Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport|Washington-National Airport]], Arlington, Virginia, U.S.
}}

'''Eastern Air Lines Flight 537''', registration N88727, was a [[Douglas DC-4]] aircraft en route from [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], to [[Washington, D.C.]], via intermediate points on November 1, 1949. A [[P-38 Lightning|Lockheed P-38 Lightning]], registered NX-26927, was being test-flown for acceptance by the [[government of Bolivia]] by Erick Rios Bridoux of the [[Bolivian Air Force]]. The two aircraft [[Mid-air collision|collided in mid-air]] at an altitude of 300 feet about half a mile southwest of the threshold of Runway 3 (present-day Runway 4) at [[Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport|Washington National Airport]], killing all 55 aboard the DC-4 and seriously injuring the pilot of the P-38.<ref name="cab">{{cite web |url=https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/33379|title=CAB report for November 1, 1949 accident involving N88727, Docket No. SA-202, File No. 1-0138. |publisher=Civil Aeronautics Board |date=September 22, 1950 |accessdate=June 1, 2021}} – [https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/33379/dot_33379_DS1.pdf PDF]</ref><ref name="APlead1949">{{Cite news |date=November 2, 1949 |title=Planes Collide in Air, 55 Killed |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7965853// |newspaper=[[Herald & Review|The Decatur Herald]] |location=Decatur, IL |agency=[[Associated Press|AP]] |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |accessdate=December 22, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref> At the time it was the deadliest airliner incident in United States history.<ref name="time">[https://web.archive.org/web/20110131043425/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,934263,00.html "Bolivia 927! Turn Left"]. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', November 14, 1949. Retrieved August 25, 2009.</ref><ref name="asn">{{ASN accident|id=19491101-0}}</ref><ref>Komons, Nick (August 1989). ''Air Progress''. p. 65.</ref>

== Incident ==
The tower controllers on duty that day at National testified that the P-38 had taken off on Runway 3, turned left north of [[the Pentagon]], circled over [[Arlington, Virginia|Arlington]], then returned, requesting permission to land due to engine trouble. The controller cleared the aircraft to join the left [[airfield traffic pattern|traffic pattern]], but instead it flew south of the airport and entered a long straight-in approach at the same time Flight 537 was turning onto a shorter final. The controller then called Flight 537 ordering it to turn left; it began the turn, but by then the P-38, being considerably faster than a DC-4 on final, overtook the aircraft a half mile southwest of the threshold of Runway 3.<ref name="cab"/>

The DC-4 was cut in half by the left propeller of the P-38 just forward of the trailing edge of the wing. The aft portion of the DC-4 fell to the ground on the west bank of the [[Potomac River]]; other pieces were located in [[Alexandria, Virginia]], at the [[Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad]] [[Potomac Yard]] and on a highway passing near the Yard. The fore portion of the aircraft fell into the river, as did the P-38.<ref name="cab"/>

== Investigation ==
{{blockquote |Many hours following the collision of an Eastern Air Lines passenger transport and a Bolivian fighter plane, the search went on today under the glare of floodlights for the nine passengers whose bodies had not yet been recovered.

Shocked Members of Congress, stunned by the loss of one of their own number (Republican George J. Bates), promised a complete air safety investigation. The [[Civil Aeronautics Board]] said its hearings into the cause of the crash will start in a few days. The airline scheduled a probe of its own, as well. The disaster occurred as the big DC-4 transport headed into the National Airport for a landing shortly before noon, flying at about 300 feet.

Into the traffic pattern, calling for landing instructions, came a P-38 fighter piloted by [[Bolivia]]'s top airman, Erick Rios Bridoux. Bridoux was testing the twin-engine craft which his government had purchased from the United States. An airport tower operator a bare half-mile away saw the P-38 bear down on the transport. He cried a radio warning to the 28-year-old Bolivian, but the P-38 kept coming. Then the tower frantically signalled the transport. The DC-4 pilot swerved the big ship from its path, but too late. The fighter ripped into it from above and from the side. The airliner split in half. Bodies and wreckage fell into the water and along the bank of the Potomac.|November 2, 1949, ''[[The Herald-Palladium|Herald-Press]]'', St. Joseph, Michigan.}}

[[U.S. Air Force|Air Force]] Sergeant Morris J. Flounlacker hauled the weakly treading Bridoux out of the Potomac, just as the wounded pilot lost consciousness. At [[Inova Alexandria Hospital|Alexandria Hospital]], doctors found he had a broken back, crushed ribs and serious contusions.<ref name="time"/>

Bridoux contradicted much of the tower controllers' testimony when he spoke to [[Civil Aeronautics Board]] (CAB) investigators. He claimed he had taken off from Runway 36, had been in constant contact with the tower, and had been explicitly cleared to land on Runway 3 under the call sign "Bolivian 927". The testimony of both the tower personnel and a military controller listening in on the frequency from his position at [[Bolling Air Force Base]] (as well as other discrepancies in the P-38 pilot's testimony) led the CAB to discount Bridoux's version of events.<ref name="cab"/> As Bridoux spoke and understood English well, it was thought that language difficulties played no part in the accident. However, Donovan Davis, one of the controllers, said he was cleared to enter the traffic pattern and land on the runway 3<ref>https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1949-11-10/ed-1/seq-1/</ref>

The CAB determined the primary probable causes of the accident to be the P-38 pilot's decision to land without proper clearance and his failure to exercise normal vigilance in looking out for conflicting traffic.<ref name="asn"/> The CAB also found that the tower controllers failed to exercise due vigilance in not notifying the pilots of Flight 537 earlier as to the critical traffic situation developing. However, the report also states that even if Flight 537 had received earlier advice with respect to the P-38's location, it might still have been too late to avoid the accident, as Bridoux's actions left Flight 537 only a few seconds in which to turn.<ref name="cab"/>

== Notable people ==
Among the dead on Flight 537 were Massachusetts Congressman [[George J. Bates]], [[The New Yorker|''New Yorker'']] cartoonist [[Helen E. Hokinson]], and former Congressman [[Michael J. Kennedy (politician)|Michael J. Kennedy]].<ref name="time"/><ref name="AP1949">{{Cite news |date=November 2, 1949 |title=Congressman, N.Y. Executives, Die in Crash |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7965429// |newspaper=The Decatur Herald |location=Decatur, IL |agency=[[Associated Press|AP]] |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |accessdate=December 22, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref>

== Aftermath ==
After the crash, families of victims sued Rios, Eastern Airlines, and the U.S. government for damages. In 1953 a federal judge decided that a jury should definitely decide who was at fault, regardless of what the CAA report said. Rios was judged not to blame - Eastern Airlines was, although the jury acknowledged that Rios could have been more careful. Eastern Airlines fought the ruling but finally lost at the Supreme Court in 1957.<ref>https://boundarystones.weta.org/2021/08/17/death-over-potomac-mid-air-plane-crash-leaves-dc-looking-answers#footnote-12</ref>

==See also==
*[[2025 Potomac River mid-air collision]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=twKfXowAigIC&dq=%22eastern%20air%20lines%22%20%20navy%20fighter%201949&pg=PA233 Haine, Edgar (2000), ''Disaster in the Air''], pp.&nbsp;233–240. Retrieved August 25, 2009, using [[Google Book Search]]
* [http://openjurist.org/214/f2d/207 Erick Rios Bridoux v. Eastern Air Lines], United States Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit, 1954
* [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VUwOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nn8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6500%2C5530 The Deseret News, November 1 1949, p. 1]{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Retrieved August 25, 2009 – includes photographs of crash wreckage
* [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VUwOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nn8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6797%2C35339 The Deseret News, November 1 1949, p. 5]{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Retrieved August 25, 2009 – names of those on board the DC-4
* [http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1949&_f=md001429 Reaction of Eleanor Roosevelt to the disaster], November 5, 1949.  Retrieved August 25, 2009
*[http://ghostsofdc.org/2012/02/27/planes-collide-near-national-airport-killing-55-d-c-loses-home-rule-advocate/ Planes Collide Near National Airport Killing 55; D.C. Loses Home Rule Advocate]
{{Eastern Airlines}}
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in the 1940s}}
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1949}}

[[Category:1949 in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:1949 in Virginia]]
[[Category:Accidents and incidents involving the Douglas DC-4]]
[[Category:Airliner accidents and incidents in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1949]]
[[Category:Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error]]
[[Category:Airliner accidents and incidents over the Potomac River]]
[[Category:Eastern Air Lines accidents and incidents|537]]
[[Category:Mid-air collisions involving airliners]]
[[Category:Mid-air collisions involving military aircraft]]
[[Category:Mid-air collisions in the United States]]
[[Category:November 1949 in the United States]]
[[Category:Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport]]