Plane Crash on Minnehaha Creek

University of Minnesota student Harold Cahn was a little bored on a Tuesday night. He was studying at home with classmates when he did what so many other college students have done. He mused aloud that he “wished that something exciting would happen.” Moments later, just after 9pm on Tuesday, March 7th, 1950 a plane crashed into his next-door neighbors’ home.

Northwest Airlines flight 307 was making its way east to west across the country. It had departed from Washington D.C. and made scheduled stops in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit and Madison. It had been delayed by routine maintenance and as they approached their next intended stop in Rochester, Minnesota the weather was taking a turn toward a winter storm. They were waved off from landing and were redirected to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.

Although the aircraft had the capacity to carry up to forty passengers, aboard the Martin 2-0-2 airliner were 2 pilots, 1 flight attendant and 10 passengers. Both pilots, Donald B. Jones and William McGinn, were from the Twin Cities and had families they were flying home to. The flight attendant (or stewardess), Mary Alice Kennedy, was on her way back to finish planning her wedding that was taking place in less than a month. The passengers included a civil engineer, a JC Penney’s manager, a retired Indian Bureau agent, a University of North Dakota dean, an executive from the Ford Motor Company, and others visiting family members in Minnesota.

As the pilots approached for landing, they reported that visibility was poor and were planning to use their instruments for landing. Either the instruments weren’t working correctly or the visibility was even worse than the ground crews realized. The pilots didn’t know it, but they were off course. The aircraft flew over Fort Snelling National Cemetery, just to the southwest of the landing strip and the left wing clipped the top of a 67-foot flagpole. Instead of continuing to try to land, they pulled up and tried to circle around to try again. But they knew they were in trouble. Heading northwest to circle around, the airliner was over the Washburn Water Tower when the damaged wing peeled off and fell to the ground. Perhaps trying to aim for Minnehaha Creek and avoid the surrounding homes, the plane crashed into the house at 1116 West Minnehaha Parkway.

Franklin and Marie Doughty were watching the Minneapolis Lakers game on television with their 15 year-old daughter, Dianne. Marie had just put their two younger children, Tommy and Janet to bed. Suddenly, the house exploded into flames and Dianne was leading her parents through a broken-out window to escape. Flames engulfed the house within seconds, exacerbated by the jet fuel, and the Doughty’s pleaded desperately for someone to save their children.

Left to right: Janet, Dianne and Tommy Doughty about a year before the crash

The response was enormous. Dozens of neighbors came running, trying to reach the children with a ladder until the home collapsed into the fire. Thirteen engine and ladder companies responded to the alarm. Eighteen police units, plus several officers on foot, came in response. Seven ambulances and five doctors came from General Hospital (now HCMC). The Pike family at 1104 West Minnehaha Parkway turned over their house to the Red Cross who set up a warming station and headquarters in the basement. Over fifteen photographers from the newspapers swarmed the scene. Crowds of wandering onlookers looked for pieces of wreckage or climbed on top of garages and sheds to get a better look.

As morning dawned on Wednesday, March 8th, nothing more could be done but that doesn’t mean that the city just moved on. The newspapers carefully followed each affected family and shared details of funeral plans and memorials near and far. An investigation by the Civil Aeronautics Board with hearings in the mayor’s office at City Hall brought out dozens of witnesses and experts to testify. No direct cause of the crash was ever found.

The Doughty family never returned to the house that was a total loss. They moved closer to Washburn High School where Dianne finished school. The homes on either side (at 1110 and 1120 West Minnehaha Parkway) were repaired and restored. Just in case, the address of the home that was built on the crash site was changed from 1116 to 1114.

Just over one year after the crash Northwest Airlines abruptly took all of the Martin 2-0-2s out of service and never flew them again.

It took over 60 years, but the 35-W bridge collapse in 2007 reminded people of similar unexpected tragedies. A movement to create a memorial to the victims of the crash was finally successful in 2011.

Today, as we look to skies, seeing and hearing over 800 flights depart or arrive at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport each day, we can be grateful for all of the work done to increase the safety of flying.