Acknowledgements
Dear prospective reader,
The following is a list of most of the people and organizations that helped me, with their credentials given as they stood at the time of the accident, where applicable, unless specifically stated to be more current.
Ralph Anglea, air traffic controller at Oakland, involved in CAB rule making, and later, FAA rule making.
Milo Bacon, United Air Lines captain, knew Captain Shirley, flew with Harms and Fiore.
Ken Barmore, United Air Lines crew scheduler at Los Angeles International Airport.
Louis Barr, TWA flight engineer.
Edward G. Betts, TWA captain and later, unofficial historian for TARPA.
P.K. Bonde, United Air Lines captain, flew with Captain Shirley.
Ralph Breyfogle, United Air Lines copilot and later captain, brother of Forrest Breyfogle.
Hal Bryan, United Air Lines captain.
James Casteel, United Air Lines crew scheduler at Los Angeles International Airport.
George Cearley, Jr., airline historian and author some years after the tragedy.
William Cordell, TWA captain, attended flight training school with James Ritner.
Dick Cosgrave, United Air Lines captain, helped Mrs. Harms to face the reality.
Larry De Celles, TWA captain, accident investigator, later ALPA National Safety Chairman.
Ed Delaney, Chief of Dispatch with United Air Lines at Los Angeles International Airport.
Adrian Delfino, United Air Lines Corporate Historian.
Marge Dixon, United Air Lines stewardess.
William E. Dunkle, United Air Lines captain, author, knew Harms and Shirley.
Maggie Eiseman, river rafting guide, was at the scene at Chuar Butte a few days after the accident.
Clem Ellington, United Air Lines captain, knew Girardo Fiore well.
Stephan Fusco, United Air Lines captain, good friend of Robert Harms.
Harry Gann, Douglas Aircraft Company Historian.
Marge (Harms) Gibson, widow of Robert Harms, provided very moving descriptions of what she went through at the time.
Bud Gimple, United Air Lines copilot, later captain.
Morel Guyot, United Air Lines captain, flew DC-3 transport missions for canyon operations.
Tom Haggerty, FAA Library, years after the tragedy.
Lorraine (Nelson) Hallberg, my mom, and the sister of Jack Groshans, provided her memories of that terrible time.
Stuart Halsey, CAA Watch Commander on duty at Salt Lake City ARTC when the planes crashed, coordinated the initial search, and released responsibility to the U.S. Air Force.
Gordon Hargis, TWA captain, flew with Captain Gandy.
Mel Heflinger, United Air Lines captain, ALPA accident investigator, worked at United site.
Lynn Hink, Air Traffic Controller, knew some of the controllers involved with TWA 2 and United 718.
Ginny Husak, TWA radio and Teletype operator.
Paul Husak, TWA dispatcher at Los Angeles International Airport.
Bob Justice, TWA mechanic at Los Angeles International Airport, towed the Star of the Seine to the gate on the day of the accident.
Jim Kennedy, manager of the Denver Publicity Office with United Air Lines, attended the United interment and memorial services.
George Kidera, United Air Lines Corporate M.D., worked on identifications of victims, in Flagstaff.
Linda (Harms) Kiracibasi, Robert Harms' daughter, provided photos of her dad.
Joyce (Groshans) Klug, Jack Groshans' widow, provided documents and very moving memories.
Ed Krieger, United Air Lines mechanic at Los Angeles International Airport, friend of Girardo Fiore, listened to tape of Harms' mayday message.
George Legere, United Air Lines captain, worked at Medicine Bow Peak accident.
Joe L'Episcopo, TWA dispatcher from Idlewild and later, an NTSB Accident Investigator.
L. David Lewis, mountaineer who contended personally with the aftermath of the disaster, and was the first man to reach the practically inaccessible United crash site.
Jim Loosen, TWA Manager of Crew Scheduling at Kansas City, knew the crew of Flight 2.
Roland MacDonald, ARTC controller at Albuquerque ARTC.
Gwen Mahler, TWA hostess, knew the hostesses aboard Flight 2, later author of cabin attendants' history books, one time president of TWA's Clipped Wings group for retired hostesses.
Peter J. Marson, authority of Lockheed Constellations, author years after the accident, provided opinions about the type designation of the Star of the Seine.
Merle Nichols, ATC controller at Los Angeles tower, contended with reporters at the time of the tragedy, accident expert.
Virgil Nolte, United Air Lines Manager of Crew Scheduling at Los Angeles International Airport.
Nancy Palmer, librarian at Flagstaff Public Library, many years after the tragedy.
Ethel Pattison, Los Angeles International Airport Historian, since just before the accident.
Joe Pepito, American Airlines mechanic, worked on DC-7s.
Jim Peters, owner of Crawford-Peters Aeronautica long after the accident, provided nearly 100 out-of-print books on pertinent aviation subjects.
Andy Pitas, Air Traffic Control Association.
Ned Preston, FAA Historian's Office long after the accident.
Jon Proctor, Airliners Magazine well after the accident, provided lots of information and encouragement.
Charles Quarles, expert on and collector of antique cabin attendants' uniforms.
David Richwine, TWA captain, knew Captain Gandy well, went to flight training school with him.
Matt Rodina, Jr., self-appointed keeper of voluminous, esoteric United Air Lines records that were slated to be discarded.
Fred Romanski, National Archives, Civil Records Division, well after the accident.
Robert Rummel, TWA's head engineer, later author of Howard Hughes and TWA.
Dick Russell, United Air Lines captain, later accident investigator.
Francis Shamrell, Manager of Flagstaff Municipal Airport.
Robert C. Sherman, a captain with TWA at the time of the accident, and worked in several capacities for TWA's retired pilots' association, TARPA, for many years after his retirement as an airline pilot.
Jasper Solomon, a TWA pilot who worked at the TWA crash site.
Gaylord Stavely, river rafting expert, was at United crash area shortly after the accident.
Sara Stebbins, librarian at Grand Canyon National Park, well after the accident.
Lionel Stephan, American Airlines captain, flew through the crash area just minutes after the accident.
Gene Tritt, United Airlines captain, later president of United's retired pilots' association, RUPA.
Gail Walter, TWA teletype operator at Los Angeles International Airport.
Richard Wegner, TWA pilot, friend of James Ritner, hired same day as Ritner.
Connie White, United Air Lines stewardess.
John Whittle, aircraft historian, later author of The Douglas DC-6 and DC-7 Series.
Bill Wolf, TWA captain, tour guide at Airline History Museum in later years, enabled me to sit in both pilots' seats in the museum's restored Constellation and take numerous photos, showing the instruments and cockpit visibility.
Vicy Morris Young, United Air Lines stewardess, historian, past president of United's retired stewardesses' association, Clipped Wings.
Airline History Museum
Air Traffic Control Association
ALPA Accident Investigation Department
ALPA Engineering and Air Safety Department
Civil Aeronautics Administration
Civil Aeronautics Board
FAA Accident Investigation School
FAA Historian's Office
FAA Library
Fort Huachuka, Historian's Office
Grand Canyon National Park Library
Luke Air Force Base, Historian's office
National Archives
National Climatological Reporting Center
National Transportation Safety Board
Northern Arizona University Library
Save-A-Connie, Inc.
U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
U.S. Congress
U.S. Geological Survey
Western Climatological Data Center
I am grateful to all of those who assisted me through my research, in order to make this book possible.
I truly appreciate all you gave me and I thank you all.
