Personally I suspect that Logan has at least partially fallen prey to the charms of Dr Spears--I highly doubt Taylor is living it up in South America--but his questions are interesting ones. There have been dozens of plane crashes due to explosive decompression. Fri, 26 May 23. . I am quite sure that Taylor would not have exploded it.. At the time of his disappearance, Al Taylor lived in Tampa and worked as a salesman for the Pioneer Tire Company. National Airlines was a United States airline that operated from 1934 to 1980. To me it just doesnt add up that Spears is going to tell his best friend of many decades, a man with essentially no history of violence, to take on this package like its Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.. He ran unsuccessfully for Idaho County Coroner in 1972 on the Republican ticket. Except for the land areas and coastal waters from Mobile westward, skies were virtually clear and visibility excellent. The ultimate flight tracking suite for small aircraft/general aviation (GA) owners and operators. 8837.3'W. Mrs Spears said that when he came to see her, Spears was sad about Taylors death. [5], "Con Man, Best Man, An Air Crash - A Far Out, Far Up Mystery", "Robert Spears, 1959 bomb suspect, dies in Dallas", Aviation Safety Network report on Flight 967, Civil Aeronautics Board Aircraft Accident Report on Flight 967, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Spears_(naturopath)&oldid=1106844718, This page was last edited on 26 August 2022, at 19:28. But this investigation led nowhere. PROBABLE CAUSE: "Because of the lack of physical evidence, the probable cause of this accident is unknown. It continued on a track of 296 degrees magnetic for a few minutes, then turned right to a heading of approximately 010 degrees and disappeared from the scope at 12:51 AM. [citation needed], Spears was eventually arrested in Phoenix after being turned in by the ex-wife a fellow naturopath in Arizona. Post-mortem examinations of the nine bodies, all of which were identified by fingerprints, indicated that all had received traumatic injuries. Examination of the liferafts and lifevests indicated that they had not been used for their intended purposes or prepared for such use, and all damage had been accidental and random. On October 5, 1945 National Airlines Flight 16, a Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar (registered NC18199) crashed into a lake near Lakeland, . Mrs Spears replied that she had not. Seven minutes later, National Airlines flight 2511, which had been carrying 29 passengers and 5 crew members, crashed into a field in Brunswick County. Despite intensive searches over the following months and years by the Coast Guard, Civil Aeronautics Board, the US Navy, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and private companies--the rest of the wreckage has never been found. [] The fire marks on bodies and on debris were of the type caused exclusively by a flash surface fire, probably both hot and brief, upon impact with the water. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Some small quantity of clothing and other personal effects and several mail bags were also found. Flight status, tracking, and historical data for National Aeronautics and Space Administration 967 (NASA967) 01-Mar-2023 (KEFD-KVCT) including scheduled, estimated, and actual departure and arrival times. When she read that Dr Robert Spears had been a victim of the air disaster, she became even more curious. Geo resource failed to load. (If any were available prior to my introduction to flying, though, I can't be sure.) Playing upon people's uncertainties about air-travel, insurance companies did quite well off them. The FBI had found Dr Spears through an ex-wife of Spearss associate Mr Turska. Divers established that the contact was a sunken ship. The sea was practically calm with waves about 1-1/2feet high moving from a northerly direction with a period of about five seconds. FBI National Academy. Low frequency bearings were then taken on Grand Isle, on the New Orleans Range Station, and on the Mobile "H" facility, also from 14,000feet altitude. A FedEx plane was only about 150 feet off the ground when its pilots realized a Southwest jet was in the process of taking off on the same runway, and aborted its landing to avoid a potentially . Turska also gave wildly conflicting accounts of his involvement in the affair. A careful search was made for witnesses. Or was it all a freak accident? A considerable amount of the floating debris also exhibited signs of burning but only above waterlines. He estimates that the white trail took three or four seconds to go "straight down," and that the initial red flash was "almost as big as the sun." All 42 on board were presumed killed in the incident. Sun 4/9. According to Junior, Taylor was carrying over $600 in cash--a lot of money at the time, especially for a man in serious debt. Suddenly his strange behavior all made sense to her--her hapless ex-husband was a puppet, under Dr Spearss spell. It turned out he had a long criminal record--a string of confidence schemes, forgery, and thefts under a variety of aliases. Spears had a long history of crime, having been arrested 17 times under 14 different aliases. American Airlines Flight 320 was a scheduled flight between Chicago Midway International Airport and New York City's LaGuardia Airport.On February 3, 1959, the Lockheed L-188 Electra performing the flight crashed into the East River during its descent and approach to LaGuardia Airport, killing 65 of the 73 people on board. He asked her not to tell Junior this. At the heart of the book is the crash of National Airlines Flight 967, which plunged into the Gulf of Mexico on Nov. 16, 1959. However, the Clearfield, Pennsylvania, Progress speculated in its Nov. 17, 1959, edition that the aircraft may have been brought down by a bomb: "Was there an explosion aboard the National Airlines DC-7B liner that crashed in the Gulf of Mexico Monday with 42 persons aboard? In 1954 before this case, England lost several planes to it within months of each other, thanks to metal fatigue causing the decompressions. Investigation disclosed no significant weather condition in the form of fronts, squall lines, thunderstorms, turbulence or icing affecting the route of flight. But two Air Force fliers who spent four hours over the scene said because the wreckage was so scattered it seemed to them the plane exploded in the air. The weather conditions were good. Spears disagreed with the characterization of himself as a sinister hypnotic puppetmaster. The flight had been on its way from Tampa, Florida, to New Orleans. PENGUIN assisted on November24 and on the following day made sonar contact at position 2916.4N, 8836.7'W. We appreciate you trying our new Live Surface Map feature. . Probably one of the most intriguing cases Ive read here, what a great write up OP! The aircraft remained unreported. It was a starlit night, and good weather conditions were reported all along the route. The bodies were stripped of clothing and revealed severe burns, he said. A subreddit dedicated to the unresolved mysteries of the world. Questions also surround the third man involved in all this--William Turska, the naturopath who Spears went to stay with in the immediate aftermath of the crash. The mafia? And who was he? National Airlines Flight 193, registration N4744, Donna, was a Boeing 727-235 en route from Miami, Florida to Pensacola on May 8, 1978. . James L. Sigman, executive officer of the Coast Guard station at New Orleans, said the plane might have exploded when it struck the water. saw an unusual light in the sky [] in the general direction of where [the flight] was lost and at about the time it was lost [] the light was red or dark red, appearing suddenly, lasting a couple of seconds then producing a vertical white light which fell with a white trail [] the initial red flash was almost as big as the sun. The aircraft was airworthy at the time of departure and had an adequate amount of fuel. * Lockheed Super H Constellation There were no apparent problems with the plane's operating equipment, no apparent discrepancies in the maintenance records, nothing mechanical which could "reasonably be linked to this accident". EVERETT ENGERSOL, Evergreen Park, Illinois, PEDRO MARCO, arrived in Miami from Havana, A. VINAS, Havana and Loma Linda, California, The REV. Thats not necessarily so. Then he abruptly told her was headed to Atlanta the next day, to look for a job there. Curiously, Al Taylor had recently been reported missing. At its height, National Airlines had a network of "Coast-to-Coast-to-Coast" flights, linking Florida and the Gulf Coast with cities along the East Coast and large . NATIONAL AIRLINES, INC., DOUGLAS DC-7B, N4891C 2910'N, and Long. See if your flight has been delayed or cancelled and track the live position on a map. Here are the names of the people from the flight manifest. Robert Vernon Spears (June 26, 1894 May 2, 1969) was a naturopath who is alleged to have placed a bomb aboard National Airlines Flight 967, an aircraft that went missing over the Gulf of Mexico on November 16, 1959, killing 42 people. A problem was discovered (broken window . Rescuers went out in aircraft and boats, arriving before dawn and still combing the cold, rough seas as the sun came up. As for the insurance policy taken out by Taylor, Spears said: Taylor was sort of a nut on insurance. I cant believe I dont remember the name but the one where the guy hijacked the plane and parachuted out over Washington state? ", Alan C. Logans book also cites a vague remark by Mr Turska that Spears was not alone when he showed up in Arizona after the crash. Yet cracks soon appeared in this image too. None of this disclosed conclusive evidence as to the genesis of the accident. We have been unable to find any such relationship. Investigators found less than 1% of its structural components and no conclusive evidence that a bomb was used. The line between the airports does. A mystery woman told a local Tampa newspaper that she had had a relationship with Taylor shortly before his disappearance, and did not believe he was dead. The 36 passengers and six crew aboard Flight 967 from Tampa to New Orleans died in the accident 35.6 mi (57.3 km) off the coast of Pilottown, Louisiana. OP, thank you for your work on this, especially noting the numerous sources you cited. The freezing level along the route was at about 14,000feet and the winds at that altitude were generally from the northwest at 10-20knots. To qualify for the Post-9/11 GI Bill, at least one of these must be true: You served at least 36 months on active duty (either all at once or with breaks in service) and were honorably discharged, or. A Spirit Airlines flight from Dallas to Orlando was diverted to an airport in Jacksonville, Fla., Thursday, March 2, 2023, after a battery from a passenger's item caught fire in an overhead bin . He needed to get the dynamite from Tulsa to Dallas. National Airlines Flight 967, registration N4891C, was a Douglas DC-7B aircraft that disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico en route from Tampa, Florida to New Orleans, Louisiana on November 16, 1959. Best write up Ive ever read. Several months later, on November 7, 1960, a commercial organization was engaged to conduct a one-month search using techniques proven effective in prospecting for underwater oil structures. It was then observed to turn right approximately 70 degrees and disappear from the scope at 0051 at Lat. Mrs Taylor recalled that Dr Spears had held an unnatural sway over her former husband. What an intriguing case - how have I never heard of this before? He felt he had been a burden and it was a chance to free us of that burden.. Taylor? There is little or no physical evidence upon which to explain this accident. She also said she had begged him to turn himself in but he refused. The flight accepted the clearance and stated it would remain at 14,000feet a little longer. Very interesting story, indeed. National Airlines Flight 967 of November 15, 1959, was scheduled between Miami, Florida, and New Orleans, Louisiana, with a stop at Tampa, Florida. A personalized flight-following experience with unlimited alerts and more. This dialogue will close in 60 seconds or you can click the exit icon in the top right corner to go back to the flight map immediately. Interchange flights like this were fairly common before the CAB awarded more direct routes beginning with the Southeast to West Coast case in 1961. Register now (free) for customized features, flight alerts, and more! An oil slick estimated to be a mile long and possibly 400yards in width ran in a north-south direction. However, the search party aboard the National Convair had decided that the last known radar position (2913'N, 8840'W) should be searched first. Intensive sea and air searches resulted in finding nine floating bodies and a small amount of floating debris the following morning. According to this new story, in November 1959 Spears was extremely worried about the upcoming abortion trial in Los Angeles. The man was a con artist. The only noteworthy observation from the gate agent in Tampa was "a man in a brown or tan suit, carrying a newspaper but no luggage, hurrying toward the Flight 967 gate right at closing time". This consisted of fragmented bits of upholstery, soundproofing material, cabin linings, scat cushions and backs, metallic parts of seats attached to and buoyed by these cushions and backs, overhead racks and other light items not essential to the structural integrity of the aircraft. 967. 02:55. Dr Spears lived in an affluent suburb of Dallas, and he and his wife were relatively well-known in the citys social circles. The history of the original National Airlines spanned nearly fifty years and during that time it [] for all those decades and all the different things they got up to. Nothing unusual was observed and no other objects were observed in the vicinity of the flight which indicated to the station that any difficulty was being encountered. Search and rescue aircraft spotted scattered debris and a number of bodies in the vicinity of the last radar return, about 35 miles east of Pilottown, Louisiana; the remains of 10 individuals were eventually located. I was kind of expecting to hear Spears was somehow involved in JFK's assassination. At 0034 the flight reported over NL1 at 0033 at 14,000feet, estimating New Orleans at 0119. A Tanzanian airline said on Monday it will start flights to Zimbabwe in December, plying the Harare-Dar es Salaam route three times a week. The U.S.S. National Airlines Flight 967, registration N4891C, was a Douglas DC-7B aircraft that disappeared over the Gulf of Mexico en route from Tampa, Florida, to New Orleans, Louisiana, on November 16, 1959. Don't have an account? National Airlines Flight 967 of November 15, 1959, was scheduled between Miami, Florida, and New Orleans, Louisiana, with a stop at Tampa, Florida. No seat belt abrasions were found. This indicated to him that the explosion took place after the plane hit the water. So why the stories from Spears? AA967 Flight Tracker - Track the real-time flight status of American Airlines AA 967 live using the FlightStats Global Flight Tracker. Flight data API with on-demand flight status and flight tracking data. One of these was not aboard, although a final passenger count showed 36passengers upon departure from Tampa. The flight release Tampa-New Orleans was in accordance with the Civil Air Regulations and NAL procedures. It was determined that Taylor had boarded the flight using a ticket issued for Spears. Investigators were divided on whether the aircraft broke apart on impact with the water, or exploded in the air before it went down. A tragic accident due to some unforeseen mechanical malfunction or even pilot error? I think the plane crashing was more or less a red herring in this case. Early that morning, they spotted something: a small amount of debris, a large oil slick, and several floating bodies. While circling and observing, the National Convair called Coast Guard aircraft with continuous transmission, allowing the latter to home on the area. To have a definitive answer I would have to do research that I am far too tired for at the moment, but I wanted to relay what little information I could think of before I passed out and forgot to come back and do it.

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