NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCIDENT
EAL Flight 45 left Boston, Mass., on schedule at 0855 EWT[1] for Miami, Fla., with stops scheduled at New York, N.Y., Washington, D.C., Columbia, S.C., and Jacksonville, Fla. Arrival at New York was at 1011 where a complete crew change was made. Departure from New York was at 1030 and arrival at Washington at 1203.
At Washington the flight was cleared under contact flight rules to Columbia, S.C., and the crew remained the same as when leaving New York. There were 20 passengers, three of them infants. Departure was three minutes behind schedule.
The flight proceeded uneventfully and routine position reports were made at 1230, 1303, 1349, and at 1431, the latter being "over" Florence. However, prior to reporting over Florence the captain of the DC3 had left the airway (Amber 7) and four or five minutes after the 1431 position report was approximately eight miles to the right of the airway.
At 1315 an Army A-26 aircraft left the USAAF Base at Florence on a two-hour training mission and was flown about 40 miles northwest to a certain military flying which he completed in approximately thirty minutes. He then left the restricted area to return to the Florence Base. When about 15 to 20 miles from this base he started practicing aural nulls[2] using the Florence radio station. The final turn was to the left with the A-26 banked approximately 15° to 20° and at an airspeed of about 220 m.p.h. This turn, which the Army pilot estimated had been continued for one or one and one-half minutes, was then stopped and for the first time the Army pilot saw the DC3 almost directly ahead of him and on an approximate crossing path from his right. (See attached sketch.) As nearly as can be ascertained the A-26 was seen by the pilot of the DC3 at about this same time and in a direction approximately 90° to his left.
The pilot of the A-26 pushed the controls forward in an attempt to pass under the other plane. The captain of the DC3 pulled back on his controls. Almost immediately after each pilot had observed the other plane the collision occurred.
Initial impact was with the vertical fin of the A-26 against the leading edge of the DC3's left wing at a point slightly in from the landing light. The fin progressed along this leading edge until it struck the left engine nacelle, tearing loose that engine. This engine then moved to the right sufficiently to allow its still rotating propeller to strike and cut into the fuselage of the DC3 at a point just
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