It's possible, investigators with the Civil Aeronautics Board later theorized, that as the Martin 202 approached the Williamsport airport, that a crew member accidentally bumped the fluxgate compass, resulting in an erroneous reading.
Whatever the reason, amid snow showers and clouds, the pilot didn't realize he was 80 degrees off course. It's likely he recognized the error a few seconds later, because he began a turn, applied full throttle and started to retract his landing gear just before the plane crashed into the side of Bald Eagle Mountain.
There was just one survivor. Twenty-one of the passengers and all four crew members, died in the crash.
Today, a Williamsport-area man has embarked on a quest to memorialize the site of the crash, one he believes has been long forgotten by many people.
Shane Collins has done research and, using GPS, located the spot where Flight 371 crashed into Bald Eagle Mountain, across the Susquehanna River from Montoursville.
The only survivor of the crash was Louis Matarazzo of Springfield, who died in the mid-1990s.
"The Lord opened my side of the plane and I was able to jump out," he is quoted in an Associated Press story. "I fought my way through flames, past the wreckage."
Newspaper accounts from 1959 said Fred Gettys of New Cumberland and a passenger from Philadelphia were found unconscious but died before they could be taken to a hospital.
Collins said his interest in the crash came from what he learned from his late uncle, Joseph Fox. Fox, who went to site, told him it was the most horrific thing he had ever seen.
Collins heard the story from his uncle in the 1980s, and in 1994 read about the crash in the archives of the James V. Brown Library in Williamsport, adding to the intrigue.
"I admire people who are so interested in local history," said Robin Van Auken, an archaeology instructor at Lycoming College, who is working with Collins.
Collins said he tried several times in 1995 and 1996 to find the crash site, which is on state forest land, but was unsuccessful. "I sort of forgot about it," he said.
In January, Collins said he again began thinking about the crash. His cousin, Mark Avery of Spencer, N.Y., who had a GPS app on his cell phone, went looking in April but also failed to find anything, he said.
When they realized the GPS app was giving them the wrong elevation Collins said they returned to the mountain in May. This time, they were successful.
Finding what remains of the wreckage was "very emotional for both of us," he said.
Besides part of the wreckage, he said they discovered coins, an Allegheny spoon and pin, buttons, keys and what appears to be part of a necklace. "It's amazing to see what's up there," he said.
They also found two bone fragments. Biology professors at Lycoming College have been unable to determine if they are human or animal, Van Auken said.
Through the efforts of Van Auken, who also is a board member of the Northcentral Chapter 8 of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, the state Historical and Museum Commission has designated an area about the size of a football field as an official archaeological site.
Plans are to map and photograph the site but the lack of funds may prevent the search for artifacts, she said. Van Auken estimates it would cost at least $20,000 to have an archaeological dig at the site.
There needs to be a scientific reason, not just a salvage effort, to get approval to do a dig, she explained. Because the site is on state forest land, nothing can be removed without proper permits, she said.
Should an archaeological search be conducted in the future, any artifacts recovered will be archived in the State Museum in Harrisburg, she said.
Recovering anything from the crash site would be difficult because much of it is on a 67-degree slope. It is difficult to stand in places without hanging onto a tree and the footing is treacherous, Van Auken said.
Jack Kramer who was involved in the salvage operations in 1959, recalls as one of the engines was being recovered it rolled down the side of the mountain over the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks and into the river.
While an archaeological search may not occur, Collins and Van Auken said plans will continue to erect a small memorial at the site.
They also advocate erecting interpretive panels at strategic locations, such as on the Susquehanna River Walk in Williamsport, so people would know where the plane hit the mountain.
- Source: http://www.pennlive.com
What is believed to be part of a wing from Allegheny Airlines Flight 371 remains on Bald Eagle Mountain across the Susquehanna River from Montoursville where the plane crashed 55 years ago. The tarp in the foreground was placed there by Shane Collins who wants to establish a small memorial at the site of the worst airline disaster in the history of Lycoming County.
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