60 Years Ago This Week: 4 Shattuck Students Die In Plane Crash
Tuesday this week will mark 60 years since the Northwest Orient Flight 710 plane crash along the Indiana/Kentucky border, which killed all 63 people on board, of which included 4 students from Shattuck-St. Mary's. At the time the crash was the "third Electra disaster in a little more than a year and the third unexplained accident in four months."
Onboard Flight 710, which originated from Minneapolis heading to Miami with a stop in Chicago at Midway in between, were 57 passengers and 6 crew. Of those 57 passengers, 14 were Minnesotans, and 4 were students at Shattuck-St Mary's. The Shattuck students killed were:
Sophomore Joseph Bowman, 16, Senior William Eller, 17, Sophomore W. Derek Gardner, 16, and Senior Daniel Linkraum, 17.
When I searched online for records of the Shattuck students I couldn't find anything as to who they were, or what they enjoyed. One would think they would have enjoyed what most young boys enjoy, some sports, probably hanging out with friends and family when they could, maybe the early rock 'n' roll music of the time.
A year after the crash the local Kiwanis group erected a monument at the crash site which features the names of those who lost their lives on that flight. That's what the photo is in this post. It was and is a tasteful way to remember those who died 60 years ago this week.
The crash was later determined to have been caused by "in-flight separation of the right-wing while cruising at 18,000 ft (5,500 m) due to flutter caused by unexplained reduced stiffness of the engine mounts." according to the crash report from the FAA.