12-16 & 12-19, 1960 DOUBLE PLANE CRASH & SHIP FIRE.

And what a couple of days that was. Rest in Peace for those who perished in the two disasters and continued thoughts and prayers for those who responded to the incidents and those who survived.
Thanks, Chief, for continuing the tradition of NEVER FORGET
 
as an Auxilary Fireman I was at the Brooklyn site and I will never forget it. One heck of a job done by FDNY..
 
Was detailed to the Brooklyn crash site the next night, 6x9 tour. Remember it as a bitter cold night with snow and ice on the ground. We were mainly sifting through the debris in the collapsed church for human remains. They had set up a morgue at a nearby taxi garage. A nearby bowling alley was used for the guys to take a break in time to time. Unbelievable sight when you first arrived with the rows of burned out buildings and cars, great job by the brothers in holding it to the impact area.
 
COPY OF A POST & MY REPLY FROM ANOTHER SITE.....18 hours ago billybucktail said:
Remember the Carrier Fire well. Was in L-108, went down on the second alarm, we were a third alarm truck but one of the trucks was at the airplane crash.
When we pulled into the Navy yard at Kent Ave. and Clymer St there were yard workers every 30 or 40 yds both sides of the roadway directing
us to the right dock. Lt Gebhart, Fr Fogarty and myself went up the outside wooden platform which gave you entrance into the hangar deck.
Fr Magnuson (chauffer) and Fr. Marshall (Tiller) raised the aerial into various positions to reach trapped workers some of who had
makeshift signs hanging from various small openings below the flight deck asking for help. when Lt. Gebhart reported in to the 34 Batt.
the Chief handed me the bulky portable radio in use at the time and said 'get in touch with my aide' All I could think of at the time was
" Oh my God The Biggest job I will ever be at and I am told to hold a radio" I received a message from Marine 3 asking for instructions,
I forget what the Chiefs response was, anyway in a very short time The aide showed up and I headed off to Find the Lt. and Fogarty.
I tracked them down in one of the passageways off the hangar deck operating a hand line. We advanced the line with another company
right next to us with another line. There was very little smoke but visibility was near zero because of the steam generated by the
water hitting the hot bulkheads. every so often there would be a loud bang as the cold water water hit a very hot bulkhead.
We were relieved on the line and were assigned to help a company that was in a compartment between the hanger deck and
the flight deck removing victims. This was a very low point at the job because of the condition of some of the workers.
We then worked with other companies with trying to gain access to some very small openings in the hangar deck which led to unknown areas.
this lasted a short time as you could barely get anyone into one of these openings with your turnout coat on. Some members were taking
off their coats to get down. We then got the word that we were to join up with our chauffer and tillerman in order to account for the company.
We went up to the flight deck and after some time joined up with Magnuson and Marshall. The Carrier was starting to list slightly towards the
dock because of the water being poured in. One truck had the tip of its aerial starting to jam into the ship because it was set into
one of the small openings below the flight deck. The Lt. was told to reposition the ladder to prevent it from
getting jammed . Since this alarm came in (I think right after 9 AM ) almost the whole 6x9 shift from L-108 showed up including Lt. Miller
who served on a Carrier as a pilot during WW11. I know he found a responsible person and advised them to address the stability of the ship
because of the amount of water being poured in...MY REPLY..
BROTHER MEMBER'S & FOLLOWERS on this & other FDNY related sites where this info was posted ....i cannot begin to tell you the RESPECT DUE this poster "BILLYBUCKTAIL"...a USMC Vet & one of the Greatest of the Old School FFs who in the War Years not only talked the Talk but certainly did Walk the Walk....one of my greatest mentors in a place of some of the FDNY's greatest mentors.....Bill so glad to see you jump in on this thread which was posted out of Respect to FFs like you. ...also i was glad to see you at the 125th Anniversary !
Last Edit: 14 hours ago by 68k09

 
I believe that both of these stories of 12/16 and 12/19 are written about by the late Lt Richard Hamilton in the book called; "20,000 Alarms". He was on the job at the time assigned to Rescue 2 and working when that happened. I THINK the title of the chapter is called "I'll be home for Christmas - maybe".
 
At that time I was in the 6th grade and we were in the auditorium of St. Fidelis school for some type of assembly when Sister?? interrupted to report that the planes had just crashed in Brooklyn and we were to start a rosary for all involved, both victims and rescuers.
 
I was a high school student at Bishop Loughlin HS.  Brother Anselm told us about the crash.  After school, I took the bus over to Sterling place.  I can still picture seeing the tail of the United aircraft.

Also remmeber the Constellation fire.  Fire trucks going past the school all day on Vanderbilt Avenue.  I walked down to the Navy Yard after school.

RIP to all the souls lost
 
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