Northwest Airlines Flight 5

1941 commercial airplane crash in North Dakota For the 1990 flight that lost an engine and landed safely in Florida, see Northwest Airlines Flight 5 (1990).

Northwest Airlines Flight 5
Accident
A Douglas DC-3 similar to the aircraft involved in the accident
Date	October 30, 1941 (1941-10-30)
Summary	Crashed following icing conditions
Site	Moorhead, Minnesota, United States 46°54′55″N 96°44′33″W / 46.91525°N 96.74242°W / 46.91525; -96.74242 (approximate)
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Douglas DC-3A-269
Registration	NC21712
Flight origin	Chicago
1st stopover	Minneapolis, Minnesota
2nd stopover	Fargo, North Dakota
3rd stopover	Billings, Montana
4th stopover	Butte, Montana
Last stopover	Spokane, Washington
Destination	Seattle
Passengers	12
Crew	3
Fatalities	14
Injuries	1
Survivors	1 (Clarence F. Bates)

Northwest Airlines Flight 5 was a regularly scheduled, multiple stop flight from Chicago Municipal Airport to Boeing Field, Seattle. It had intermediate stops at Minneapolis; Fargo, North Dakota; Billings, Montana; Butte, Montana; and Spokane, Washington. On October 30, 1941, on the flight's leg between Minneapolis and Fargo, the Northwest Airlines Douglas DC-3A-269 operating the route crashed into an open field about 2 1/2 miles east of the Fargo airfield, just after 2:00 am local time. All 12 passengers and two of the three crewmembers aboard were killed. The flight's captain Clarence Bates, the sole survivor, would end up dying himself a year later from another aviation accident in St. Paul, Minnesota, test-flying a Consolidated B-24.

The cause of the crash was determined to be an excessive buildup of ice on the aircraft's wings.

References

^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Douglas DC-3A-269 NC21712 Moorhead, MN". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
"Clarence Frederick Bates (1900-1942) - Find A..." www.findagrave.com. Retrieved Feb 4, 2021.

External links

Final report of the Civil Aeronautics Board (PDF)

Northwest Airlines (Northwest Orient)

History

Accidents &
incidents

Flight 2 (1938)
Flight 1 (1939)
Flight 5 (1941)
Flight 4422 (1948)
Flight 421 (1948)
Flight 307 (1950)
Flight 2501 (1950)
Flight 2 (1956)
Flight 710 (1960)
Flight 1-11 (1960)
Flight 706 (1962)
Flight 705 (1963)
Flight 293 (1963)
Flight 305 (1971)
Flight 6231 (1974)
Flight 255 (1987)
Flight 5 (1990)
Flights 1482 and Flight 299 (1990)
Flight 85 (2002)
Flight 327 (2004)
Flight 188 (2009)
Flight 253 (2009)

Destinations

List of Northwest Airlines destinations

Category

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 1941 (1941)
Feb 26 Eastern Air Lines Flight 21Oct 30 Northwest Airlines Flight 5Oct 30 American Airlines Flight 1Dec 26 Alma-Ata G-2 crash
1940 ◄ ► 1942

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1940s
1940	Lovettsville air disaster (August 1940)
1941	Eastern Air Lines Flight 21 (February 1941) Northwest Airlines Flight 5 (October 1941)
1942	TWA Flight 3 (January 1942) American Airlines Flight 28 (October 1942)
1943	Pan Am Flight 1104 (January 1943) American Airlines Flight 63 (Flagship Ohio) (July 1943) American Airlines Flight 63 (Flagship Missouri) (October 1943) Tamaqua, PA crash (November 1943)
1944	American Airlines Flight 2 (February 1944) TWA Flight 277 (June 1944) South Portland A-26 Invader crash (July 1944)
1945	American Airlines Flight 6001 (January 1945) Eastern Air Lines Flight 45 (July 1945) National Airlines Flight 16 (October 1945)
1946	Pennsylvania Central Airlines Flight 105 (January 1946) Mount Tom B-17 crash (July 9 1946) TWA Flight 513 (July 11 1946)
1947	United Air Lines Flight 521 (May 29 1947) Eastern Air Lines Flight 605 (May 30 1947) Pennsylvania Central Airlines Flight 410 (June 1947) United Air Lines Flight 608 (October 24 1947) Pan Am Flight 923 (October 26 1947)*
1948	Mantell UFO incident (January 7 1948) Los Gatos DC-3 crash (January 28 1948) Delta Air Lines Flight 705 (March 10 1948) Northwest Airlines Flight 4422 (March 12 1948) United Air Lines Flight 624 (June 1948) Lake Mead Boeing B-29 crash (July 1948) Northwest Airlines Flight 421 (August 1948) Georgia USAF Boeing B-29 crash (October 1948) Airborne Transport DC-3 disappearance (December 1948)
1949	Strato-Freight Curtiss C-46A crash (June 1949) Standard Air Lines Flight 897R (July 1949) Eastern Air Lines Flight 537 (November 1 1949) American Airlines Flight 157 (November 29 1949)
This list is incomplete. An asterisk (*) denotes an incident that took place in a U.S. territory, including Alaska and Hawaii prior to statehood. 1930–1939 ◄ 1940–1949 ► 1950–1959

Categories: