fuckyeahwrecks

This Weekend In Wrecks

June 29

1776:  The British Navy chases down the American brig Nancy, until she runs aground in Turtle Gut Inlet near Cape May, New Jersey.  The retreating Revolutionaries leave some of their gunpowder kegs in the hold, rig a fuse from powder and the main sail, and lower their flag.  The British, believing the ship has surrendered, board the Nancy and are blown up.

1864:  A passenger train plunges off an open swing bridge into the Richelieu River in St. Hilaire, Quebec, killing 99 of the 475 people on board.

June 30

1956:  TWA Flight 2 and United Flight 718 collide over the Grand Canyon and crash.  Everyone on the Super Constellation and DC-7 is killed in the deadliest air crash incident to date.

1971:  The Soyuz 11 mission ends in disaster when a seal fails during re-entry.  The capsule returns as expected, but when the craft is opened, all three crew members are found dead.

July 1

1965:  Continental Airlines Flight 12 hydroplanes off the runway at Kansas City Downtown Airport and hits a mound.  The 707 breaks into 3 pieces, but everyone survives.

2002:  A Tu-154 and a 757 cargo jet collide over Germany in what comes to be known as the Uberlingen disaster.  Everyone on Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 is killed as the plane breaks up; DHL Flight 611 continues on for 4 miles without most of the vertical stabilizer, but crashes with the loss of both crew.  Two years later a man named Vitaly Kaloyev, who lost his family in the accident, murders Peter Nielsen, the ATC on duty at the time, although he had not been determined to be responsible.