Live coverage of Senator John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign speech in Chicago, Illinois. Station leaves the air before end.
Also included is a brief newscast. 

Senator John F. Kennedy in an election-eve talk from Faneuil Hall in Boston, Massachusetts.                         

Republican Presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon is joined by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice Presidential candidate Henry Cabot Lodge in a final campaign speech before the next day's election.             

Highlights: Richard Nixon returns to California, Kennedy speaks from Springfield, Massachusetts, Mayor Robert Wagner says New York City is flooded with scare and hate literature suspects they are from Republican headquarters, New York City school teachers on strike, teachers comment on the strike.                          

Election returns, coverage from all three networks, CBS, NBC, and ABC. The Huntley-Brinkley returns on NBC sponsored by Texaco, CBS coverage with Prescott Robinson sitting in for Robert Trout, and ABC coverage with John Daly. Huntley and Brinkley turn over their broadcast to Dave Garroway and Frank Blair at the "Today" show.  
 
The NBC RCA 501 Computer says that the odds are 6.3 to 1 that John F. Kennedy will win the election. However, the ABC computer Univac predicts that Richard M. NIxon will win the election.   For the first time computers are used to predict a Presidential Election via television coverage.                                   

Live coverage of the 1960 Presidential Election Returns on WRCV-TV, an NBC affiliate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, and Tom Pettit report. 

NBC Live radio coverage of the 1960 Presidential Election returns between Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice-President Richard M. Nixon. 

This rare archived off the air recording begins with 4% of the vote counted. Commercials during this radio broadcast are included.    

Election returns, other news.            

President-Elect John F. Kennedy gives his acceptance speech at the Hyannis Armory in Hyannis, Massachusetts.                         

Vice President-Elect Lyndon Baines Johnson gives his acceptance speech at the Hyannis Armory in Hyannis, Massachusetts.                         

Presidential victory speech by Senator John F. Kennedy at the Hyannis Armory in Hyannis, Massachusetts. 

Host: Charles Kuralt. 

Post-election news on presidential race between Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard M. Nixon. 

Presidential press secretary James Hagerty may replace John Daly at ABC news. Clark Gable dead.            

Congolese on a rampage, eat their enemies, Congo crisis debated in the UN,              

President Eisenhower congratulates President-elect John F. Kennedy on the birth of his son, John F. Kennedy, Jr. Nixon confers with Eisenhower, Mercury test capsule fails in flight.              

John Kennedy names some cabinet members, (Dean Rusk, Chester Bowles, Adlai Stevenson), Adlai Stevenson named ambassador to the UN, seventeen-inch snowfall in New York City, Algerian riots against De Gaulle policies, boxer Ike Williams appears before the Senate committee investigating boxing, anti-integration laws are unconstitutional according to the Supreme Court, David Brinkley describes Christmas in Japan.                                                                

Highlights: Air collision, TWO PLANES, KILLING ALL ABOARD continuing reports, John Kennedy appoints his brother Robert as attorney general, Laos crisis, may bring aid to the Philippines.                          

On December 16th, 1960, a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 collided in mid-air with a TWA-Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation descending toward La Guardia Airport. The Constellation crashes on Miller Field in Staten Island while DC-8 goes down in Park Slope, Brooklyn. All 128 people aboard the two aircraft were killed, including six people on the ground. 

Additional CBS-TV coverage of mid-air plane crash begins twelve hours after accident with Walter Cronkite and Harry Reasoner. 

WINS newsman Brad Phillips reports of a collision between two airliners (TWA and United) over Staten Island. News of plane disaster that killed 136 people. On-the-spot accounts given by eyewitnesses.    

Fires commissioner Edward Cavanagh Jr. states that today's air disaster is the greatest tragedy in American Aviation History. Comments from New York City Mayor Robert Wagner.

On Friday, December 16, 1960 at 10:36 am a plane collided with another plane a mile high in the New York sky. It was the first commercial air disaster o the jet age, killing all 127 passengers, and crew members and five more people on the ground, when one of the airliners crashed in Brooklyn, setting off a seven-alarm fire. It was the worst aviation disaster in American history. 

The TWA constellation out of Dayton, Ohio, and bound for La Guardia Airport, broke apart in midair and plummeted into an open field in Staten Island. A United Airlines DC-8 jet out of Chicago, bound for Idlewild Airport, now Kennedy Airport, caught fire and hurtled into Brooklyn at an initial rate of 733 feet per second. The plane sliced through a church, an funeral home and 10 brownstones before sliding to a stop on Seventh Avenue and Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn.

Investigators ultimately determined United 826 had gone too late into its holding pattern and neither its crew or air traffic control knew exactly where it was. The only survivor was an 11-year old boy on the United jet  who was thrown clear of the wreck and landed in a snowbank. The TWA jet crashed 11 miles to the southeast, on Staten Island. It missed several houses by a few hundred feet. 

A brief summary of today's crash follows with a report from radio station WMGM. 

Aircraft and crews1960 New York mid-air collision:

United Airlines Flight 826 · Trans World Airlines Flight 266
Date	December 16, 1960
Summary	Mid-air collision
Site	About a mile west of Miller Field
40°34′07″N 74°07′19″W
Total fatalities	134
Total injuries	0
Total survivors	0
First aircraft
A jetliner on the apron
The tail assembly of N8013U, the Douglas DC-8-11 involved in the collision
Type	Douglas DC-8-11
Name	Mainliner Will Rogers
Operator	United Airlines
IATA flight No.	UA826
ICAO flight No.	UAL826
Call sign	UNITED 826
Registration	N8013U
Flight origin	Chicago-O'Hare International Airport (ORD/KORD), IL
Destination	Idlewild Airport (IDL/KIDL)(Now John F. Kennedy International Airport), New York City
Occupants	84
Passengers	77
Crew	7
Fatalities	84 (83 initially)
Injuries	0 (1 initially)
Survivors	0 (1 initially)
Second aircraft
A large piston engined airliner taxiing past some large bomber aircraft
N6907C, the Lockheed L-1049A Super Constellation involved.
Type	Lockheed L-1049A Super Constellation
Name	Star of Sicily
Operator	Trans World Airlines
IATA flight No.	TW266
ICAO flight No.	TWA266
Call sign	TWA 266
Registration	N6907C
Flight origin	Dayton International Airport (DAY/KDAY), Dayton, Ohio
Stopover	Port Columbus International Airport (CMH/KCMH), Ohio
Destination	LaGuardia Airport KLGA New York
Occupants	44
Passengers	39
Crew	5
Fatalities	44
Survivors	0
Ground casualties
Ground fatalities	6

On December 16, 1960, a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 bound for Idlewild Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport) in New York City collided in midair with a TWA Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation descending toward LaGuardia Airport.[1] The Constellation crashed on Miller Field in Staten Island and the DC-8 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, killing all 128 aboard the two aircraft and six people on the ground. The accident was the world's deadliest aviation disaster at the time, and remains the deadliest accident in the history of United Airlines.

The accident became known as the Park Slope plane crash or the Miller Field crash after the two crash sites. The accident was also the first hull loss and first fatal accident involving a Douglas DC-8.

United Airlines Flight 826, Mainliner Will Rogers, registration N8013U, was a DC-8-11 carrying 77 passengers and seven crewmembers from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago to Idlewild Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport) in Queens. The crew consisted of Captain Robert Sawyer (age 46), First Officer Robert Fiebing (40), Flight Engineer Richard Pruitt (30) and four stewardesses: Mary Mahoney, Augustine Ferrar, Anne Bouthen, and Patricia Keller. Captain Sawyer was a highly experienced pilot, having accumulated 19,100 flight hours, of which 344 were in the DC-8. First Officer Fiebing had accumulated 8,400 flight hours, of which 416 were in the DC-8. Flight Engineer Pruitt had accumulated 8,500 flight hours, of which 379 were in the DC-8.

Trans World Airlines Flight 266, Star of Sicily, registration N6907C,[7] was a Super Constellation carrying 39 passengers and five crew members from Dayton and Columbus, Ohio, to LaGuardia Airport in Queens. The crew consisted of Captain David Wollam (age 39), First Officer Dean Bowen (32), Flight Engineer LeRoy "Lee" Rosenthal (30) and two stewardesses, Margaret Gernat and Patricia Post. Captain Wollam had accumulated 14,583 flight hours, 267 of which were in the Constellation. First Officer Bowen had accumulated 6,411 flight hours, of which 268 were on the Constellation. Flight Engineer Rosenthal had accumulated 3,561 flight hours, of which 204 were in the Constellation. Star of Sicily's sister ship N6902C, Star of the Seine, was destroyed in another mid-air collision with a United Airlines flight in 1956.

Background

Flight paths of the two aircraft
At 10:21 a.m. Eastern Time, United 826 advised ARINC radio that one of its VOR receivers was inoperative, and the message was relayed to United Airlines maintenance. However, air-traffic control (ATC) was not informed that the aircraft had only one operational receiver, which presented difficulty for the pilots of flight 826 to identify the Preston intersection, beyond which it had not received clearance.

At 10:25 a.m., ATC issued a revised clearance for the flight to shorten its route to the Preston holding point (near Laurence Harbor, New Jersey) by 12 miles (19 km). That clearance included holding instructions (a standard "racetrack" holding pattern) for Flight 826 when it arrived at the Preston intersection. Flight 826 was expected to reduce its speed before reaching Preston to a standard holding speed of 210 knots (240 mph; 390 km/h) or lower. However, the aircraft was estimated to be traveling at 301 knots (346 mph; 557 km/h) when it collided with the TWA plane, several miles beyond the Preston clearance limit.

During the investigation, United Airlines claimed that the Colts Neck VOR was unreliable. Preston was the point where airway V123—the 050-radial off the Robbinsville VOR—crossed the Solberg 120-degree radial and the Colts Neck 346-degree radial. However, the Civil Aeronautics Board's final report found no problem with the Colts Neck VOR.

The prevailing conditions were light rain and fog, which had been preceded by snowfall.

The crash site of the United Airlines DC-8, United 826, in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

The crash site of the TWA Super Constellation, TWA 266, in Miller Field, Staten Island.
According to the DC-8's flight data recorder, the aircraft was 12 miles (19 km) off course, and for 81 seconds it descended at 3,600 feet per minute (18 m/s) while slowing from more than 400 knots (460 mph; 740 km/h) to 301 knots (346 mph; 557 km/h) at the time of the collision.

One of the DC-8's starboard engines struck the Constellation just ahead of its wings, tearing apart a portion of the fuselage. The Constellation entered a dive, with debris continuing to fall as it disintegrated during its spiral to the ground.

The initial impact tore the DC-8's engine from its pylon. Having lost one engine and a large part of the right wing, the DC-8 remained airborne for another 90 seconds.

The DC-8 crashed into the Park Slope section of Brooklyn at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and Sterling Place (40°40′38″N 73°58′25″W), scattering wreckage and setting fire to ten brownstone apartment buildings, the Pillar of Fire Church, the McCaddin Funeral Home, a Chinese laundry and a delicatessen. Six people on the ground were killed.[12][1]

The crash left the remains of the DC-8 pointing southeast toward a large open field at Prospect Park, blocks from its crash site. An occupant in one of the affected apartment buildings said that his family survived because they were in the only room of their apartment that was not destroyed. The crash left a trench covering most of the length of the middle of Sterling Place. Witnesses thought that a bomb had detonated or that a building's boiler had exploded.

The TWA plane crashed onto the northwest corner of Miller Field at 40.57°N 74.103°W, with some sections of the aircraft landing in New York Harbor. At least one passenger fell into a tree before the wreckage hit the ground.

There was no radio contact with traffic controllers from either plane after the collision, although LaGuardia had begun tracking an incoming, fast-moving, unidentified plane from Preston toward the LaGuardia "Flatbush" outer marker.

Investigation

Front page of Syracuse Post-Standard on 17 December 1960.
The likely cause of the accident was identified in a report by the US Civil Aeronautics Board:
United Flight 826 proceeded beyond its clearance limit and the confines of the airspace allocated to the flight by Air Traffic Control. A contributing factor was the high speed of the United DC-8 as it approached the Preston intersection, coupled with the change of clearance which reduced the en-route distance along Victor 123 by approximately 11 miles (9.6 nmi; 18 km)

Initial survivor
The only person to initially survive the crash was Stephen Baltz, an 11-year-old boy from Wilmette, Illinois. He was traveling unaccompanied on Flight 826 to spend Christmas in Yonkers with relatives. He was thrown from the plane into a snowbank, where his burning clothing was extinguished. Although alive and conscious, he was severely burned and had inhaled burning fuel. Baltz died of pneumonia the next day.

NOTE: A RARE EXTANT 1960 WINS 1010 RADIO AIR CHECK. 

                                                                          

Running reports of a spectacular fire on an aircraft carrier, the USS Constellation at the Brooklyn Navy Yard fifty die, eyewitness reports of the disaster from WINS radio and CBS-TV.            

The USS Constellation aircraft carrier catches fire. The fire was started by a forklift truck accident. Over 3200 workmen were on the carrier with 50 people killed. The fire took place at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. 

   
EYEWITNESS - September 30, 1960 - July 26, 1963

Originally titled "Eyewitness to History" title shortened to "Eyewitness" by the Fall of  1961

------------------
EYEWITNESS
-----------------
 'CBS News' Production
US Documentary series 1960-63   30 minute Documentary program

Hosted by Charles Kuralt (1960-61)
Hosted by Walter Cronkite (1961-1962)
Hosted by Charles Collingwood (1962-1963)
  
Eyewitness to History: REMEMBER 1960?
30Dec1960 
Synopsis:
This roundup is a filmed reminder of the incidents that loomed large and small over the 1960 horizon. Everything 
from the break-up of the summit conference, Khrushchev's desk-pounding spree at the United Nations, and the election 
of Casey Stengel, Marilyn Monroe and the Chessman affair will be reviewed in the "album" of the year's pictures.                     

A major snowstorm impacts the Northeastern section of the United States. The Mid-Atlantic and New England regions were affected. It was the second of three major snowstorms to impact the Northeast during the winter of 1960-61.

Cuban diplomatic break commentary by Frank McGee and other NBC newsmen.            

The US breaks off diplomatic relations with Cuba as a result of the expulsion of US diplomats from Cuba.               

The topic of tonight's round table discussion, predictions about the world in the New Year, 1961. 

Guests include, Alogey Jose Nigerian Correspondent, William Clark, UK commentator and director, Bottom Nekrasov, Russian Correspondent, Patrick O' Donovan, Washington D.C. correspondent, James McCulley, Australian Editor, and Prim Batiya, Indian Correspondent.               

Outgoing President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his farewell address to the nation as he prepares to welcome the new incoming President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. 

From  the ABC TV Newsroom a Bulletin, interrupting THE UNTOUCHABLES television program, announcing an airplane crash at Idlewild airport. 
      
"A Mexican DC -8 jet airliner enroot from New York to Mexico City with 97 persons aboard crashed during a blinding snow storm while taking off from Idelwild airport. At least 40 of the 97 persons aboard escaped without injury. The plane burst into flames but fireman brought the blaze under control after 50 minutes. This has been a bulletin from the ABC Newsroom. We now return to our regularly scheduled program."                  

Live radio coverage of the Inaugural Ball for President-Elect John F. Kennedy is broadcast from the DC Armory In Washington, DC.           

John F. Kennedy is sworn in as the 35th president of the United States. Live coverage from CBS and NBC news. Vice-President Lyndon Johnson is also sworn in. Poet Robert Frost recites a poem. NBC coverage from Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Edwin Newman, and Ray Shearer. CBS coverage by Walter Cronkite and Nancy Hodgeman. 

JFK inaugural, Benediction,, Lyndon Baines Johnson is sworn in, Poem by Robert Frost, President elect John F. Kennedy is sworn in who states that this is not a victory party but a celebration."

Note: President John F. Kennedy held the first presidential news conference to be carried live on radio and television.                                                  

Special on President Dwight David Eisenhower as he leaves office, passing the reigns of the Presidency to John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Includes Kennedy's inauguration speech.       

Pirate on the seized ship the "Santa Maria" announces intentions and reasons for seizing the ship. The ship cannot be found.            

NBC News special on the pirate ship in the Caribbean. The "Santa Maria" is hijacked by Portuguese rebels against the Antonio Salaza government.            

1010 WINS RADIO New York switched from top forty to the first successful all-news station April 19, 1965. 
Previously when WINS was one of four premiere New York Rock 'N' Roll radio stations only a few snippets of on the half hour five minute Dick Waffle "Newswatch" broadcasts are known to exist. This rare audio was recorded by Phil Gries at 10:55 AM from his Brooklyn New York home on Saturday morning, February 4, 1961. 
 
Dick Waffle reports at the "Newswatch." Waffle reports initial bulletins reporting the blizzard of '61. 
This third "knockout" blizzard of the winter accounted for a 17 consecutive day of temperatures below freezing, the longest in New York history. We also hear the 1010 WINS sign off as the WINS announcer reports that the next news bulletins will be heard will be at 11:25 AM. 

NOTE:
The Blizzard of February 3 - 4, 1961

The storm, U.S. HEAVIEST SNOW STORM SINCE 1947 tied up the Northeast coast. It occurred toward the end of an extended cold snowy period that brought the temperature in New York's Central Park down to -2 (2 degrees below zero) on the morning of February 2nd. The storm reached blizzard proportions throughout much of the northeast and winds at LaGuardia airport gusted over 80 miles per hour on the 4th. Snowfall totals exceeded 20 inches over much of the region. Falling on top existing snow cover, including that left over from the "Kennedy inaugural" snowstorm on the 19-20th of January, the aftermath of the storm found near record snow cover over the region ranging from 2 to 2 1/2 feet in and around New York City up to nearly 4 feet around Newburg, New York. 

Snow began falling on the evening of February 3rd 1961, dumping six inches and continued through the morning of the 4th, with an additional 11.4 inches of snow piling up. The snow that fell on February 4th was heavy and wet and was driven by gale force winds. This was the third major snowstorm of the winter, following 15.4 inches on December 11th and 12th 1960, and 9.9 inches of snow recorded on January 19th and 20th. However, those storms were characterized by very cold temperatures while this storm saw temperatures rise from the upper 20's to the mid 30's during the afternoon of the 4th when the snow changed to rain. This was the second winter in a row to have two snowstorms of one foot or more.                                                  

Highlights: Russians launch a rocket to Venus, Patrice Lumumba is believed to be killed in the Congo, Castro blames Kennedy for six million unemployment rates in the US, Labor secretary Arthur Goldberg inspects unemployment areas, Eichmann lawyer gets Israeli rules on legal procedures.                                                   

Highlights: Patrice Lumumba is assassinated in the Congo, Russian rocket on the way toward Venus, electrical equipment manufacturing scandal.                          

United Nations Security Council meets on the Congo crisis. Independence movement taking place across Africa. Independence movement also taking place in Belgian Congo later to become Zaire and later, The Republic of Congo. 

Highlights: Floyd Patterson knocks out Ingemar Johansson, space failure, Kennedy meets with West German Chancellor Willy Brandt, Eleanor Roosevelt encourages President Kennedy to put more women in government, spy trial in England, Richard Nixon has a new job, joining law firm, Brenda Lee, 26, killed in automobile accident, and from the campus at Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio, 65 students have already applied to join the Peace Corp.   
Chairman of the group is Junior student Robert Fasic who comments on President Kennedy's Peace Corp Program.                                                     

 From Columbus Ohio on the campus of Ohio State University a Radio News Broadcast report covering the first of eventually 1,576 Buckeye alumni serving the Peace Corps' founded by President John F. Kennedy and established as a new agency within the Department of State on March 1, 1961.  

Ohio State University junior student Robert Fasic comments.     

Highlights: Reports on Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, comments by visitors in Moscow, details of launching and orbit, emphasize "the triumph of socialism" in this scientific feat.                           

A report on the first Russiam Cosmonaut in space Major Yuri Gagarin.  

See ATA# 13529 for more details.                        

Highlights: More on Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in space, Kennedy evaluates the position of the US in space, Soviets deny that an earlier attempt failed, Israeli prosecutor defends Israel's right to try Eichmann for crimes against Jews.                                     

Adolf Eichmann trial enters the second day in Israel, Russians hail the success of Major Yuri Gagarin, the first Russian Cosmonaut to journey into space.                                                                                         

Russians launch astronaut into orbit. 
  
On this day Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin became the first human being to travel into space aboard spacecraft Vostok, which orbited the Earth at a maximum altitude of 187 miles. During the flight the 27 year old test pilot and industrial technician also became the first man to orbit the planet, a feat accomplished by his space capsule in 89 minutes.  In total Gagarin was in space for one hour and 48 minutes.                                          

Highlights: Moscow prepares to receive Yuri Gagarin, Krelim boasts of superiority, challenges US in the space race, US Congressman says US lags in space, President Kennedy says the US will not directly overthrow Castro but will aid others to achieve that end.           

Highlights: More news on US space lag, Eichmann trial off for one day, a hotel is damaged by a bomb in Havana, General Edwin Walker reported to be indoctrinating his troops on extremist John Birch Society ideas. John Welsch in a row with a newsman on the question of calling Eisenhower a communist, New York Senator Jacob Javits comments on the society, suggests an investigation, Adam Clayton Powell freed on an income tax charge.                                      

The US tries to find out why it lags behind Russia in the space race, Russia venerates Yuri Gagarin, plans for future space flights, Russians refuse to yield on nuclear test ban talk.                   

Highlights: Moscow prepares gala reception for Major Yuri Gagarin, commentary on space flight boasts of socialism in the triumph of science and engineering, Gagarin relates observation of his flight.