HUB History - Our Favorite Stories from Boston History

The missing passengers of flight 30

• NTSB accident report for World Airways Flight 30
• Coverage in the Boston Globe
  • Jan 24: initial crash, victim reactions
  • Jan 25: first person accounts from survivors, pics
  • Jan 26: the investigation begins in earnest
  • Jan 27: Now two missing; family couldn’t get any answers
  • Jan 28: two men still missing
  • Jan 29: airline ordered to produce passenger list, (P1) survivor thinks he heard the Metcalfs
  • Jan 30: pilots were using outdated weather data
  • Jan 31: preparing to lift fuselage, divers find no trace of Metcalfs
  • Feb 2: Metcalfs were on no-show list, used flight coupons
  • Feb 4: Divers suspend search for Metcalfs
  • Feb 18: timeline and transcripts
  • Feb 27: detailed transcript
  • Apr 1: Metcalf memorial mass planned
  • Apr 7: last victim released from MGH
  • May 21: interview with Audrey Metcalf
  • Jan 1983: Audrey Metcalf sister a year later
• Coverage in the New York Times
  • Initial coverage of the crash on January 24, 1982.
  • News of the missing Metcalfs breaks on January 27, 1982
  • Audrey Metcalf reflects on the second anniversary of the accident.

The website New England Aviation History is a terrific resource and inspiration for any topic related to aviation, especially the early years. We’ve used their articles to help prep for our episodes about the 1910 Boston Harvard Aero Meet, about Amelia Earhart in Boston, and about early balloonists in Boston. The site has sections devoted to plane crashes and other aviation accidents, unsolved mysteries of the air, and aviation history. Within the history section, I’m particularly fond of the subdivisions having to do with long forgotten airports, the airships, flying machines, and general contraptions that early pioneers used to take to the skies… or at least to make an attempt, and the aviation “firsts” that happened in New England.

One notable first is an article about the first balloon ascent in Boston. After taking off from Washington Gardens on Tremont Street, aeronaut Louis Charles Guille crash landed at Ten Hills Farm in Somerville. The flight led to the first aviation-related lawsuit in the Bay State, because the landing destroyed a farmer’s crops. It’s remarkable that even this brief article is backed up by four sources.

If you’re a fan of early aviation, this is a site for you.

History Camp Boston is coming up on Saturday, March 14. History Camp is billed as an “unconference,” with no pre-defined theme, and no gatekeepers deciding who gets to present on what topic. Nikki and I have been attending since the first History Camp in 2014, and we’ve learned a lot about the history of Boston, and the world, in the years since. Over the years, The range of expert presenters goes way beyond what you’d find at an academic conference, and the best part is that you don’t need any special credentials or membership to attend. Any old nerd like you or me is welcome.

I’ll be appearing on a panel with fellow podcasters Michael Troy, of the American Revolution Podcast; Ed O’Donnell of In the Past Lane; Susan Otchere Stevenson of American Epistles; and Liz Covart of Ben Franklin’s World. There will also be talks by past podcast guests JL Bell, Eric Peterson, Lori Lyn Price, Shawn Quigley, and Barbara Berenson. I’ll be hoping to reconnect with old friends, meet some of our fans and social media contacts, and recruit future guests to bring on the show.

Note: Unfortunately, History Camp Boston sold out between the time this episode was recorded and when we released it. Bookmark the link and make sure you sign up early next year!