If you keep up on your local history, you probably know that Washington has sadly been the site of quite a few deadly plane crashes over the years. The majority of them were private planes, but that was not the case in 1952 when a tragic Moses Lake crash made national headlines.

On the evening of December 20, 1952, a C-124 took off from Larson Air Force Base near Moses Lake, heading toward Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio.
Wikipedia
The plane was part of "Operation: Sleigh Ride," a USAF airlift program to bring U.S. servicemen fighting in the Korean War home for Christmas. The flight was full of military members trying to get home to their families.
But just seconds after takeoff, tragedy struck. The left wing struck the ground and the aircraft cartwheeled, broke up, and exploded.
Wikipedia
There were 115 people onboard, and 87 of them were killed. There were only 28 survivors. Although the light snowfall that day didn't cause the crash, it did delay recovery of bodies at the crash scene. Rescue vehicles bogged in the soft, wet ground.

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The accident was investigated, and it was determined that the aircraft's elevator and rudder gust locks had not been disengaged prior to departure.
Fighting Irish 1977 / Flickr
At the time, this was the deadliest aviation accident in history. While this is no longer the case, it's still the worst accident of its kind in Washington.
It is especially tragic that so many servicemen were killed when they were just trying to get home to their families for the holidays.
kelsey6 / Flickr
Still, given the violent nature of the crash, it's also a miracle that some escaped unharmed.

We hope this is an isolated incident and we never have to deal with a tragedy of this nature again here in Washington… just like this deadly, unpredictable storm.

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