Who blew United Airlines Flight 23 out of the sky?
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In the evening hours of October 10, 1933, United Airlines Flt 23(or Trip 23, as it was called then), a Boeing 247 registered as NC-13304, had 35 minutes left on the Cleveland to Chicago leg of a cross-country flight, when a bomb planted in the toilet closet at the rear of the aircraft blew the tail off the plane, sending it into a death spiral to the ground five miles south of Chesterton, Indiana. Three crew and four passengers died. It was the very first confirmed act of sabotage---what we today would call terrorism--aboard a passenger plane, and the crime remains unsolved. In the 80 years since, not a single credible suspect, or even a motive, has ever been put forth.
The subsequent investigation by the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice(the FBI) was hampered by a lack of solid leads. No parts of the bomb, which was probably made of dynamite or nitroglycerin, were discovered. No detonator, no end caps, no clock, no battery, no wires, and no tape or wrapper. The ground crews saw no suspicious persons near the plane while on the ground at the debarkation point of Newark nor in Cleveland. There was nothing in the background of the crew or passengers that might explain it, neither as perpetrators or as targeted victims. The same was true of the passengers who had changed their reservations or had otherwise missed the flight, and also the passengers who flew previous flights on that same aircraft. No person or group ever took responsibility.
It was thought that labor agitators might have done it, as there was some dissatisfaction amongst the pilots, though that theory was eventually abandoned for lack of evidence. Another rumor popular at the time also pointed to an unnamed 'gangster' that may have used the airline merely to transport the bomb, and had hid the device in the blanket and pillow compartment in the rear of the onboard toilet in case he was searched upon arrival. He then had apparently abandoned it, and it later exploded accidentally when it was nudged by turbulence or by someone jostling it. That theory too had no real evidence to support it.
The investigation petered out after about six months, and was finally closed in September of 1935. In retrospect, the FBI report, as reflected in the 322 pages released, is woefully incomplete.
They should have gone over the crash site until they found the remnants of the explosive device, but they did not.
They should have interviewed every family member, friend, neighbor, and co-worker of the victims, but they stopped after ascertaining that the crewmember/passenger was a 'reputable' person.
They should have re-interviewed subjects to clear up discrepancies in what they said, but they did not. The fiance of victim Dorothy Dwyer made statements that indicated he had foreknowledge that the cause of the crash was a bomb. He also seemed to have gangster connections. Strangely, there is no evidence that this solid lead was followed up.
80 years on, the mystery remains.
In Memoriam:
Pilot Harold Tarrant, 25
Co-Pilot A.T. Ruby
Stewardess Alice Scribner, 26
Fred Schendorf, 28
Warren Burris
Dorothy M. Dwyer, 25
Emil Smith, 45
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In the evening hours of October 10, 1933, United Airlines Flt 23(or Trip 23, as it was called then), a Boeing 247 registered as NC-13304, had 35 minutes left on the Cleveland to Chicago leg of a cross-country flight, when a bomb planted in the toilet closet at the rear of the aircraft blew the tail off the plane, sending it into a death spiral to the ground five miles south of Chesterton, Indiana. Three crew and four passengers died. It was the very first confirmed act of sabotage---what we today would call terrorism--aboard a passenger plane, and the crime remains unsolved. In the 80 years since, not a single credible suspect, or even a motive, has ever been put forth.
The subsequent investigation by the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice(the FBI) was hampered by a lack of solid leads. No parts of the bomb, which was probably made of dynamite or nitroglycerin, were discovered. No detonator, no end caps, no clock, no battery, no wires, and no tape or wrapper. The ground crews saw no suspicious persons near the plane while on the ground at the debarkation point of Newark nor in Cleveland. There was nothing in the background of the crew or passengers that might explain it, neither as perpetrators or as targeted victims. The same was true of the passengers who had changed their reservations or had otherwise missed the flight, and also the passengers who flew previous flights on that same aircraft. No person or group ever took responsibility.
It was thought that labor agitators might have done it, as there was some dissatisfaction amongst the pilots, though that theory was eventually abandoned for lack of evidence. Another rumor popular at the time also pointed to an unnamed 'gangster' that may have used the airline merely to transport the bomb, and had hid the device in the blanket and pillow compartment in the rear of the onboard toilet in case he was searched upon arrival. He then had apparently abandoned it, and it later exploded accidentally when it was nudged by turbulence or by someone jostling it. That theory too had no real evidence to support it.
The investigation petered out after about six months, and was finally closed in September of 1935. In retrospect, the FBI report, as reflected in the 322 pages released, is woefully incomplete.
They should have gone over the crash site until they found the remnants of the explosive device, but they did not.
They should have interviewed every family member, friend, neighbor, and co-worker of the victims, but they stopped after ascertaining that the crewmember/passenger was a 'reputable' person.
They should have re-interviewed subjects to clear up discrepancies in what they said, but they did not. The fiance of victim Dorothy Dwyer made statements that indicated he had foreknowledge that the cause of the crash was a bomb. He also seemed to have gangster connections. Strangely, there is no evidence that this solid lead was followed up.
80 years on, the mystery remains.
In Memoriam:
Pilot Harold Tarrant, 25
Co-Pilot A.T. Ruby
Stewardess Alice Scribner, 26
Fred Schendorf, 28
Warren Burris
Dorothy M. Dwyer, 25
Emil Smith, 45
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