Long Beach – McGuire

On February 1, 1958 at 07:13 PM, Long Beach – McGuire experienced a crash involving Douglas C-118 Liftmaster, operated by United States Air Force - USAF, with the event recorded near Norwalk California.

The flight was categorized as military and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a city crash site.

41 people were known to be on board, 42 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 102.4%.

Crew on board: 6, crew fatalities: 6, passengers on board: 35, passenger fatalities: 35, other fatalities: 1.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The four engine aircraft departed Long Beach Airport at 1908LT bound for McGuire AFB, New Jersey, with 35 passengers and a crew of six on board. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot was cleared to climb to the assigned altitude of 17,000 feet. About five minutes later, while climbing to an altitude of 3,000 feet, the airplane collided with a USN Lockheed P2V-5F Neptune registered 127723. Carrying eight crew members, the Neptune has taken off from Los Alamitos NAS and was completing a local training mission. Following the collision, both aircraft went out of control, dove into the ground and crashed in Norwalk. The Liftmaster crashed on several building and a fuel station, killing all 41 occupants and one woman on the ground. The Neptune crashed in a stone-pit located about 2.5 miles north of the C-118 crash site. Six crew members were killed while two others were seriously injured. The accident occurred by night but in good weather conditions with a visibility above 15 miles.

Aircraft reference details include registration 53-3277, MSN 44648, year of manufacture 1955.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 33.9093°, -118.0849°.