Ground Casualty Victim of Plane Crash
Son of William Frederick Meddy, Jr. & Irene C. Johnson
Stepson of Chester C. Elsner
Evan Clark Meddy Elsner, a sweet & well-liked boy, served as an acolyte in his church, as senior patrol leader & chaplain of his Boy Scout Troop, and planned to become a minister. But after receiving severe injuries in the schoolyard of his Pacoima Junior High School on January 31, 1957 from a fiery explosive plane crash, 12-year-old Evan died two days later at Valley Hospital, Van Nuys, California.
Funeral services were held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale in the Little Church of the Flowers, officiated by his pastor, Rev. James H. Kepler, First Congregational Church of Pacoima.
Evan was cremated, and buried in the Gardens of Memory at Forest Lawn in Glendale. Sometime later his remains were moved to share a final resting place with his parents at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The date of his death on the grave marker at Arlington is incorrect.
DETAILS
Mid-Air Collision
On Thursday, January 31, 1957, at 11:18 a.m., at 25,000 feet, a U.S. Air Force Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet, on a test flight out of Palmdale, California, slammed nearly head-on into the wing of a brand-new Douglas DC-7B airliner that was returning to Santa Monica Municipal airport after a routine test flight before delivery to Continental Airlines.
A crew of four was aboard the four-engine DC-7B airliner, including Co-pilot, veteran flier Archie R. Twitchell, 50, who enjoyed a secondary career as an actor appearing in over 100 films, including Union Pacific, I Wanted Wings, Among the Living, Out of the Past, Fort Apache, I Shot Billy The Kid and Sunset Boulevard; pilot William George Carr, 36; radio operator Roy Teruo Nakazawa, 28; and flight engineer Waldo Beryl Adams, 42.
The Scorpion fighter jet burst into flames. Its pilot, Roland Earl Owen, 35, of Palmdale, went down with the jet in La Tuna Canyon, while the badly burned radar operator, Curtiss A. Adams, 27, parachuted to safety.
The DC-7B airliner pilot, William Carr, 36, of Pacific Palisades, struggled to control the plane as it went into a dive and final spin. Copilot Archie R. Twitchell, 50, of Northridge transmitted the last radio message from the crippled plane:
"Uncontrollable, uncontrollable … midair collision…. We are going in…. We've had it, boys. I told you we should have had chutes." A brief silence, then: "Say goodbye to everybody."
The remains of the 4 crew members of the airliner were found in the fuselage, which smacked into the ground at Pacoima Congregational Church, adjacent to Pacoima Junior High School. Part of an engine crashed through the roof of the church, destroying that building, while hundreds of flaming pieces of the aircraft slashed across the school playground, which was filled with hundreds of students, killing three students, Ronnie Brann, Robert Zallan, and Evan Elsner, and injuring 74 others.
Son of William Frederick Meddy, Jr. & Irene C. Johnson
Stepson of Chester C. Elsner
Evan Clark Meddy Elsner, a sweet & well-liked boy, served as an acolyte in his church, as senior patrol leader & chaplain of his Boy Scout Troop, and planned to become a minister. But after receiving severe injuries in the schoolyard of his Pacoima Junior High School on January 31, 1957 from a fiery explosive plane crash, 12-year-old Evan died two days later at Valley Hospital, Van Nuys, California.
Funeral services were held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale in the Little Church of the Flowers, officiated by his pastor, Rev. James H. Kepler, First Congregational Church of Pacoima.
Evan was cremated, and buried in the Gardens of Memory at Forest Lawn in Glendale. Sometime later his remains were moved to share a final resting place with his parents at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The date of his death on the grave marker at Arlington is incorrect.
DETAILS
Mid-Air Collision
On Thursday, January 31, 1957, at 11:18 a.m., at 25,000 feet, a U.S. Air Force Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet, on a test flight out of Palmdale, California, slammed nearly head-on into the wing of a brand-new Douglas DC-7B airliner that was returning to Santa Monica Municipal airport after a routine test flight before delivery to Continental Airlines.
A crew of four was aboard the four-engine DC-7B airliner, including Co-pilot, veteran flier Archie R. Twitchell, 50, who enjoyed a secondary career as an actor appearing in over 100 films, including Union Pacific, I Wanted Wings, Among the Living, Out of the Past, Fort Apache, I Shot Billy The Kid and Sunset Boulevard; pilot William George Carr, 36; radio operator Roy Teruo Nakazawa, 28; and flight engineer Waldo Beryl Adams, 42.
The Scorpion fighter jet burst into flames. Its pilot, Roland Earl Owen, 35, of Palmdale, went down with the jet in La Tuna Canyon, while the badly burned radar operator, Curtiss A. Adams, 27, parachuted to safety.
The DC-7B airliner pilot, William Carr, 36, of Pacific Palisades, struggled to control the plane as it went into a dive and final spin. Copilot Archie R. Twitchell, 50, of Northridge transmitted the last radio message from the crippled plane:
"Uncontrollable, uncontrollable … midair collision…. We are going in…. We've had it, boys. I told you we should have had chutes." A brief silence, then: "Say goodbye to everybody."
The remains of the 4 crew members of the airliner were found in the fuselage, which smacked into the ground at Pacoima Congregational Church, adjacent to Pacoima Junior High School. Part of an engine crashed through the roof of the church, destroying that building, while hundreds of flaming pieces of the aircraft slashed across the school playground, which was filled with hundreds of students, killing three students, Ronnie Brann, Robert Zallan, and Evan Elsner, and injuring 74 others.
Ground Casualty Victim of Plane Crash
Son of William Frederick Meddy, Jr. & Irene C. Johnson
Stepson of Chester C. Elsner
Evan Clark Meddy Elsner, a sweet & well-liked boy, served as an acolyte in his church, as senior patrol leader & chaplain of his Boy Scout Troop, and planned to become a minister. But after receiving severe injuries in the schoolyard of his Pacoima Junior High School on January 31, 1957 from a fiery explosive plane crash, 12-year-old Evan died two days later at Valley Hospital, Van Nuys, California.
Funeral services were held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale in the Little Church of the Flowers, officiated by his pastor, Rev. James H. Kepler, First Congregational Church of Pacoima.
Evan was cremated, and buried in the Gardens of Memory at Forest Lawn in Glendale. Sometime later his remains were moved to share a final resting place with his parents at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The date of his death on the grave marker at Arlington is incorrect.
DETAILS
Mid-Air Collision
On Thursday, January 31, 1957, at 11:18 a.m., at 25,000 feet, a U.S. Air Force Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet, on a test flight out of Palmdale, California, slammed nearly head-on into the wing of a brand-new Douglas DC-7B airliner that was returning to Santa Monica Municipal airport after a routine test flight before delivery to Continental Airlines.
A crew of four was aboard the four-engine DC-7B airliner, including Co-pilot, veteran flier Archie R. Twitchell, 50, who enjoyed a secondary career as an actor appearing in over 100 films, including Union Pacific, I Wanted Wings, Among the Living, Out of the Past, Fort Apache, I Shot Billy The Kid and Sunset Boulevard; pilot William George Carr, 36; radio operator Roy Teruo Nakazawa, 28; and flight engineer Waldo Beryl Adams, 42.
The Scorpion fighter jet burst into flames. Its pilot, Roland Earl Owen, 35, of Palmdale, went down with the jet in La Tuna Canyon, while the badly burned radar operator, Curtiss A. Adams, 27, parachuted to safety.
The DC-7B airliner pilot, William Carr, 36, of Pacific Palisades, struggled to control the plane as it went into a dive and final spin. Copilot Archie R. Twitchell, 50, of Northridge transmitted the last radio message from the crippled plane:
"Uncontrollable, uncontrollable … midair collision…. We are going in…. We've had it, boys. I told you we should have had chutes." A brief silence, then: "Say goodbye to everybody."
The remains of the 4 crew members of the airliner were found in the fuselage, which smacked into the ground at Pacoima Congregational Church, adjacent to Pacoima Junior High School. Part of an engine crashed through the roof of the church, destroying that building, while hundreds of flaming pieces of the aircraft slashed across the school playground, which was filled with hundreds of students, killing three students, Ronnie Brann, Robert Zallan, and Evan Elsner, and injuring 74 others.
Son of William Frederick Meddy, Jr. & Irene C. Johnson
Stepson of Chester C. Elsner
Evan Clark Meddy Elsner, a sweet & well-liked boy, served as an acolyte in his church, as senior patrol leader & chaplain of his Boy Scout Troop, and planned to become a minister. But after receiving severe injuries in the schoolyard of his Pacoima Junior High School on January 31, 1957 from a fiery explosive plane crash, 12-year-old Evan died two days later at Valley Hospital, Van Nuys, California.
Funeral services were held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale in the Little Church of the Flowers, officiated by his pastor, Rev. James H. Kepler, First Congregational Church of Pacoima.
Evan was cremated, and buried in the Gardens of Memory at Forest Lawn in Glendale. Sometime later his remains were moved to share a final resting place with his parents at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The date of his death on the grave marker at Arlington is incorrect.
DETAILS
Mid-Air Collision
On Thursday, January 31, 1957, at 11:18 a.m., at 25,000 feet, a U.S. Air Force Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet, on a test flight out of Palmdale, California, slammed nearly head-on into the wing of a brand-new Douglas DC-7B airliner that was returning to Santa Monica Municipal airport after a routine test flight before delivery to Continental Airlines.
A crew of four was aboard the four-engine DC-7B airliner, including Co-pilot, veteran flier Archie R. Twitchell, 50, who enjoyed a secondary career as an actor appearing in over 100 films, including Union Pacific, I Wanted Wings, Among the Living, Out of the Past, Fort Apache, I Shot Billy The Kid and Sunset Boulevard; pilot William George Carr, 36; radio operator Roy Teruo Nakazawa, 28; and flight engineer Waldo Beryl Adams, 42.
The Scorpion fighter jet burst into flames. Its pilot, Roland Earl Owen, 35, of Palmdale, went down with the jet in La Tuna Canyon, while the badly burned radar operator, Curtiss A. Adams, 27, parachuted to safety.
The DC-7B airliner pilot, William Carr, 36, of Pacific Palisades, struggled to control the plane as it went into a dive and final spin. Copilot Archie R. Twitchell, 50, of Northridge transmitted the last radio message from the crippled plane:
"Uncontrollable, uncontrollable … midair collision…. We are going in…. We've had it, boys. I told you we should have had chutes." A brief silence, then: "Say goodbye to everybody."
The remains of the 4 crew members of the airliner were found in the fuselage, which smacked into the ground at Pacoima Congregational Church, adjacent to Pacoima Junior High School. Part of an engine crashed through the roof of the church, destroying that building, while hundreds of flaming pieces of the aircraft slashed across the school playground, which was filled with hundreds of students, killing three students, Ronnie Brann, Robert Zallan, and Evan Elsner, and injuring 74 others.
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