15 Killed as TWA Airliner and Private DC3 Plane Collide, Crash

A TWA Airliner and a DC3 airplane owned by an heiress of the Dodge motor fortune, collided in flight, then crashed in flames about a half mile apart, on snow-covered northern Kentucky hillsides, near Cincinnati, Ohio shortly after 8 a.m. on January 12, 1955, killing all 15 persons aboard the two aircraft. The collision was about two miles south of the Greater Cincinnati Airport which is in Kentucky, about 12 miles from Cincinnati. There were no survivors to explain the accident.

The DC3 with two aboard was being flown from Battle Creek, Michigan and was to have picked up Mr. and Mrs. Frederick L. Van Lennep in Lexington, Kentucky, wealthy Detroit race horse owners. The TWA plane had left the Greater Cincinnati airport only minutes before, bound for Dayton & Cleveland, Ohio. It carried 10 persons and a crew of three.

Herald & Review (Decatur, IL) – Thursday, January 13, 1955

A former well known Olney young man and later a resident of Lawrencevile, was killed in the crash of a private plane and a commercial airliner, last week, Wednesday, January 12, 1955.

Included in the 15 persons killed in the crash was Lieutenant Robert Childress of Ann Arbor, Michigan, the son of Mrs. Marjorie Childress of Lawrenceville. The family resided in Olney for a number of years until the death of R.K. Childress from a heart attack in the old Olney High School building during a basketball game.

Lt. Childress attended Olney schools and after military service became connected with TWA.

The air tragedy occurred near the community of Limaburg, Kentucky, about 12 miles from Cincinnati, Ohio. The twin engined TWA plane piloted by Lt. Childress had left the Cincinnati airport about 9 o'clock in the morning, enroute to Dayton, Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio. The plane crashed into another twin-engined plane owned by the Castleton Farms of Lexington, Ky. - a famous harness horse farm. The pilot and co-pilot were killed. All occupants of the TWA plane were also killed.

Witnesses said the planes apparently caught fire after the collision and were aflame when they hit the ground, about a mile apart.

Lt. Childress is survived by his wife and a 5 month old child, who live in Ann Arbor, Mich.; his mother, Mrs. Marjorie Childress of Lawrenceville; and a brother, Ensign Richard Childress of the United States Marine Corps, a 1954 graduate of the Annapolis Naval Academy.

Funeral services held at Lawrenceville.

Published in Olney Daily Mail (IL) - January 20, 1955