At 7.24am on Friday, 17 September, 1965, an aeroplane named ‘Clipper Constitution’ crashed into the side of Chances Peak in Montserrat. All 21 passengers and nine crew members were killed.
The weather was poor with thunderstorms, towering cumulus and heavy rains, and the flight crew had likely thought they were in the vicinity of their destination of Antigua.
Following an investigation into the crash, the official cause of the accident was determined to be crew error, according to the Aviation Safety Network.
The pilot had descended below a safe height when the plane’s position had not been accurately established.
Emergency officials in Montserrat were tasked with the harrowing job of recovering the bodies, which after being identified, were buried in Plymouth Public Cemetery.
In 2019, Montserrat Spotlight published an in-depth report detailing the experiences of William Duberry, an officer with the Montserrat Defence Force.
A dark day
PanAm Flight PA-292 operated on a scheduled service from Fort de France, Martinique, to New York with stops at Antigua, St Croix, Virgin Islands, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
On the day of the disaster, a flight plan had been filed for the 30-minute leg from Martinique to Antigua Coolidge International Airport, and cruising altitude was set be 16,500 feet.
The Boeing 707-121B passenger plane, operated by Pan American World Airways, took off from Fort de France’s runway 27 at 7.04am and reached cruising altitude at 7.09am.
The crew established radio contact with Antigua air traffic control at 7.15am which cleared the flight to proceed toward Antigua airport while maintaining an altitude of 2,500 feet.
Air traffic control told the flight crew to make a report in the vicinity of the airport’s non-directional beacon.
But about ten minutes later the crew reported that the plane had passed through 4,000 feet, but they had not yet spotted the airport.
At the same time the plane was seen flying along the coast of the island of Montserrat in rain and below the clouds with landing gear down and flaps partially extended.
Shortly afterwards it struck a mountain at an elevation of 2,760 feet above sea level and 242 feet below the summit.
Victims
The victims of the disaster were:
Hugh Henderson (Captain)
John McNicol (First Officer)
Hugh Miller (Navigator)
Norman Carlson (Engineer)
James Tarre (Purser)
John Walsh (Purser)
Tove Johansen (Stewardess)
Reidun Mykland (Stewardess)
Janet Green (Stewardess)
Thomas Calvin
Janice Chrisman
Carol Roadhouse
Claude Emanuel
Robert Elizabeth
Janette Elizabeth
Angelo Elmundsi
Hortense Elmundsi
Marie Fournier
Ferdinand La Montagne
Mrs Ferdinand La Montagne
Francesca LeGendre
Lillianne LeGendre
Chantal LeGendre
Phillipe LeClerc
Lilianne LeClerc
Maurice Pailles
Genevieve Pailles
E J Shockley
C J Wallen
Mrs C J Wallen
