1956 Grand Canyon Air Disaster Remembered

Above, the peaks at above center is where the two planes fell after colliding. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

While at Grand Canyon National Park today, I was at the Watchtower when I noticed a couple of markers about a 1956 airline disaster involving two passenger planes colliding over the Grand Canyon.

After reading them, I photographed both. I had been to the Watchtower before, but I don't recall hearing about this air disaster. The top one was placed in 2014. I don't know when the other was placed.

According to Wikipedia:

The 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision occurred on Saturday, June 30, 1956 at 10:30 am Pacific Standard Time when a United Airlines Douglas DC-7 struck a Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation over the Grand Canyon within the boundaries of Grand Canyon National Park, resulting in the crash of both airliners. All 128 on board both flights perished. It was the first commercial airline crash to result in more than 100 deaths, and led to sweeping changes in the control of flights in the United States. The location of the crash has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

According to the top marker, this disaster led to the formation of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).