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National Airlines Flight 470

14 Feb 1953 · Gulf of Mexico, off Fort Morgan, Alabama

Douglas DC-6 · Turbulence, in-flight breakup

From Miami International Airport (MIA) to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)

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Event

Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
Event fatalities
46 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
46
Survivors
0
InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
Unknown
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Airline

Douglas DC-6

Aircraft type
Douglas DC-6
Category
Airplane · from aircraft type
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N90893
Onboard fatalities
46
Route
From Miami International Airport (MIA)To Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY)

Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.

From the Wikipedia article

National Airlines Flight 470 was a regularly scheduled flight between Tampa and New Orleans that crashed on February 14, 1953 after encountering severe turbulence. The crash marked the deadliest accident in the history of National Airlines, killing 46 (5 crew and 41 passengers), among them the widow of the cartoonist Billy DeBeck: Mary Bergman.

Events

The Douglas DC-6, registered N90893, crashed into the Gulf of Mexico 20 miles off Mobile Point en route to New Orleans. The USCGC Blackthorn assisted in search and recovery operations. National Airlines did not maintain its own meteorology department, as was standard among airlines at the time, and its pilots were not informed of the strength of the storm into which they were flying.

Text from the Wikipedia article “National Airlines Flight 470” (revision 1339308430, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article

Sources

Wikipedia article: National Airlines Flight 470
Article
National Airlines Flight 470
Revision
1339308430 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q18379387
Licence
Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
Record
Wikipedia article "National Airlines Flight 470" (page 43917832, revision 1339308430)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
Wikipedia article coordinates
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
flight number in the article title
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.