flight 629
United Air Lines Flight 629, registration N37559, was a Douglas DC-6B aircraft also known as “Mainliner Denver.” The regular route for the flight was from New York City to Portland, Oregon, and then on to Seattle, Washington. This flight made one stop in Chicago and one in Denver. On November 1, 1955, United Airlines Flight 629 left New York City’s La Guardia Airport. It made a scheduled stop in Chicago before continuing to Denver’s Stapleton Airfield and landed at 6:11pm, eleven minutes late. Other than being eleven minutes late, the flight had been completely routine. The plane was refueled with 3,400 US gallons of fuel and had a crew replacement in Denver. Captain Lee Hall, aged 41, a World War II veteran, assumed command of the flight for the segments to Portland and Seattle.
The flight departed Denver at 6:52pm. The flight’s last transmission came at 6:56pm, stating it was passing the Denver omni. Then, just seven minutes later, the air traffic controllers at Stapleton saw two bright lights suddenly appear in the sky north-northwest of the airport. Then, 30 to 45 seconds later, the lights fell to the ground at roughly the same speed…followed by a very bright flash originating at or near the ground. The flash was so intense that it lit up the base of the clouds 10,000 feet above the ground. The whole thing was quite strange, because there were no distress calls from aircraft in the area. They immediately contacted all aircraft flying in the area. The received responses from all the flights, except for Flight 629. The crash of Flight 629 killed all 39 passengers and five crew members.
There was nothing wrong with the plane. The pilots were not ill, nor were they insane. So, what could have brought down the plane? The initial investigation left the authorities stumped. The tail section had apparently been cleanly severed from the plane, almost as if it were cut off by a knife. The FBI consulted the Civil 
Aeronautics Board (CAB) regarding the tail section. The eyewitnesses all said the same thing. They saw a fiery explosion in the air with flares streaming down and a second explosion on impact. That would also explain the two lights falling to the ground at about the same speed, but separately. It became very apparent that there had been an explosion mid-air, that actually caused the crash, but what caused the explosion.
The investigation focused on the luggage and a possible bomb. They looked at passengers with insurance. The focus moved to Denver locals, looking for personal enemies. One insured was local resident Daisie Eldora King, a 53-year-old Denver businesswoman who was traveling to Alaska to visit her daughter. They located her handbag and found a number of newspaper clippings containing information about King’s son, John Gilbert Graham, who had been arrested on a forgery charge in Denver in 1951. Graham was always bitter over his childhood. His mother had placed him in an orphanage as a child. Strangely, he alone was the beneficiary of both her life insurance policies and her will. Agents also discovered that one of Mrs King’s restaurants, the Crown-A Drive-In in Denver, had been badly damaged in an explosion. The suspicions were growing. Graham had insured the restaurant and then collected on the property insurance following the blast.
Agents searched Graham’s house and automobile. In the garage they found wire and other bomb making parts that were identical to those found in the wreckage. They also found an additional $37,500 ($379,300 today) in life insurance policies. The problem…Mrs King had not signed either these policies or those purchased at the airport, rendering them worthless. Graham denied putting a bomb in his mother’s luggage, saying she had packed it herself. His wife, Gloria contradicted his story, saying that Graham had wrapped a “present” for his 
mother on the morning of Mrs King’s flight. Finally faced with mounting evidence against him, Graham admitted to having placed the bomb in his mother’s suitcase, telling the police on November 13, 1955, “I then wrapped about three or four feet of binding cord around the sack of dynamite to hold the dynamite sticks in place around the caps. The purpose of the two caps was in case one of the caps failed to function and ignite the dynamite … I placed the suitcase in the trunk of my car with another smaller suitcase…which my mother had packed to take with her on the trip.” The hatred and bitterness of one man, took the lives of 44 people, and destroyed the lives of their loved ones.
Most plane crashes are caused by pilot error or mechanical failure, but sometimes, someone commits an act of terrorism, or as in the case of United Airlines Flight 629 someone commits an act of hatred aimed at one person. These acts are never rational, and this one certainly wasn’t, because Jack Gilbert Graham was not a rational man. I think many, if not most of us have thought at one point or another that our parents were somehow meaner to us than any other parent in the universe, but Jack Graham took that obsession to the next level. He decided that his mother was responsible for giving him a horrible childhood, and so he decided to take his revenge on her by placing a bomb in the luggage she was checking.
His mother, Daisie Eldora King, who was a 53 year old Denver businesswoman was en route to Alaska to visit her daughter. Her flight United Airlines Flight 629, registration N37559, was a Douglas DC-6B aircraft also known as “Mainliner Denver.” The flight had originated at New York City’s La Guardia Airport and made a scheduled stop in Chicago before continuing to Denver’s Stapleton Airfield and landed at 6:11pm, 11 minutes late. At Denver the aircraft was refueled with 3,400 US gallons of fuel, and had a crew replacement. Captain Lee Hall, who was a World War II veteran, assumed command of the flight for the segments to Portland and 
Seattle. The flight took off at 6:52pm and at 6:56pm made its last transmission stating it was passing the Denver omni. Seven minutes later, the Stapleton air traffic controllers saw two bright lights suddenly appear in the sky north-northwest of the airport. Both lights were observed for 30 to 45 seconds, and both fell to the ground at roughly the same speed. The controllers then saw a very bright flash originating at or near the ground, intense enough to illuminate the base of the clouds 10,000 feet above the source of the flash. Upon observing the mysterious lights, the controllers quickly determined there were no aircraft in distress and contacted all aircraft flying in the area; all flights were quickly accounted for except for United Flight 629. The date was November 1, 1955.
The plane was blown up over Longmont, Colorado at about 7:03pm local time, while en route from Denver, Colorado, to Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. All 39 passengers and five crew members on board were killed in the explosion and crash. There was early speculation that something other than a mechanical problem or pilot error was responsible, given the magnitude of the in-air explosion. Investigators determined that Jack Gilbert Graham was responsible for bombing the airplane to kill his mother as revenge for his childhood and to obtain a large life insurance payout. Within 15 months of the explosion, Graham, who already had an extensive criminal record, was tried, convicted, and executed for the crime.
It was a horrible thing. One sick man committed murder in the skies, by killing his mother with a bomb, and in the process killed 41 other people too. I don’t know if he though the could really get away with it, but investigations are pretty sophisticated…even back then. It amazes me that they can take all those plane parts and examine them…somehow finding the source of the explosion, and tracing it back to the source. Then, by finding out who the luggage belonged to, they figured the whole thing out. Criminals really aren’t so smart, even though they think they have it all figured out. It is just sad that 42 people lost their lives, because some spoiled brat of a child thought his mom was too harsh when he was a kid…with no evidence to prove his point at all.
