Flight Crew
(F-Fatality S-Survivor)
William Wade McKenzie, Captain-F
Lyman Keele, Jr., First Officer-F
Catherine Lemoine Cooper, Senior Stewardess-S
Sandy Purl , Stewardess-S
Passengers
Howard Wayne Abercrombie-F
Walter Hite Amick-F
Marvin Oscar Berglin-F
Glenn Foster Bradley-F
Edward Ray Brock-S
Bernard Meyer Bryan-S
Bobby G. Cameron-F
Jerry Wayne Causey-S
Calvin Hawthorne Childress-S
Frederick Lang Clemens-S
Edwin N. Cobb-F
Tommy Joe Coe-F
Gordon Burnett Coley-F
Lee D. Collier-S
Wesley Ray Corrick-F
Robert N. Cummer-F
Richard William Darby-S
Boyden Elmer Davis, Jr.-F
Franklin Joseph Dawson-F
Mary Patricia Dawson-F
Charles Clifton Durham-F
James Addison Forte-F
Don Foster-S
Robert M. Furniss, Jr.-F
Sally Furniss-S
Joseph David Giles III-F
Karen Lynn Jewell Giles-F
Harry C. Gordon-F
William Frederick Goubeaud, Jr.-F
Earle Clifton Griffin, Jr.-F
Emily Anne Griffin-F
Horace Cecil Griffith-F
Bruce A. Groth-F
William Victor Gudaitis-F
Herman Galey Hamby-F
William Clifford Haverkamp, Jr.-F
Charlene Yvonne Havisto-F
Horace Kevin Hay-F
Joseph Patrick Heckl-F
Leo F. Horner-F
Phillip Anthony Inzina-F
Earl D. Johnson-F
Bevil J.”Pete”Kilgore-F
Homer M. Kitts-F
Leland C. Lavender-S
Jeffrey C. Magnell-S
Thomas Monroe Mazingo-F
Herman Wesley “Red” McClure-F
Alton Vaughn “Cotton” Mobley-F
Corrine Morton-F
Masaru Ori-F
Dr. Irwin E. Perlin-F
William J. Perryman II-F
James L. Phillips, Jr.-S
Ivan Drexel Potts, Jr.-F
Richard Povinelli-F
James A. Power-F
Lee Quick-S
Robert E. Reams-S
William Michael Reeves-F
Kelsie Aubra Rogers-F
Edward Francis Rosler-F
Robert Michael”Mike”Sanders
Ronald Thomas Seaman-S
Amy L. Sebastian-S
Phillip Randolph Sherrill-F
Warren Lester Sindorf-S
Joseph Harold Smith-F
Romie Louis Smith-F
Annetta “Annette” Snell-F
Mary Tarbox-F
John Tielking-S
David Anthony Twist-S
Milford Duwayne Waldrep-F
John Price ”Buster” Walker-F
Barbara Ann “ Babs” Wicksell-F
Byron Wicksell-F
George Duncan Wilkinson-F
Michael Lewis Williams-F
James L. Williamson-F
Richard Zeleznok-S
What should have been a routine day of flying from Atlanta to Muscle Shoals, Ala., with a stop in Huntsville, then reversing the route back to Atlanta ended in one of the deadliest air disasters in Georgia history. On April 4, 1977, Southern Airways Flight 242 crashed in Paulding County killing 72 people. Nine of those were on the ground.
The two pilots, Capt. William McKenzie and First Officer Lyman Keele, had made the first half of the trip through threatening weather with no problems. After their short return hop from Muscle Shoals to Huntsville, there seemed little reason not to finish their route and go on to Atlanta.
What they hadn’t been told was that the storm system they had sailed through on the westbound route had grown much more violent in a short time.
En route to Hartsfield International Airport, the plane encountered a dangerous thunderstorm over Rome. The hail and rain were so severe that both engines flamed out and the plane began losing altitude. The flight crew was forced to make a desperate attempt to land the DC-9 on a public road, a feat unparalleled in the history of commercial aviation.
The emergency landing on the highway at New Hope almost succeeded. The wingspan of their DC-9 was 93 feet, 5 inches. Two utility poles on either side of the highway at its point of touchdown were 80 feet, 8 inches apart.
The difference between a miracle landing and perhaps Georgia’s worst airline disaster was 12 feet, 9 inches.
The plane’s wing clipped some gas tanks along what was Highway 92, in New Hope, as it crashed.
Somehow 21 people, including both flight attendants, survived.
A nonprofit organization, New Hope Memorial Flight 242, was started eight years ago to memorialize the event. The society has erected a marker a few hundred yards from the crash site, in a cemetery along the highway. But now, they want something more.
“We’re raising funds to build an appropriate monument, memorial, to those victims and their families,” says Cherry Waddell, president. “And to honor the survivors. Those survivors have their own grief to go through.”
The proposed monument, in the shape of a rising spiral, was designed by architect Jim Croft as a donation to the cause. A rendering was unveiled Saturday at a memorial service that included those who were on the plane and those on the ground who the crash affected.
Waddell’s great aunt was killed on the ground in New Hope.
She said they raised about $20,000 toward the monument, but still need much more.
“We don’t have an exact figure because the rendering is just hot off the presses,” she said. “We’ll put it out to bid and then we’ll know how much we’ll need.”
In addition to monetary donations, the organization will accept work such as clearing the ground dedicated for the project by Paulding County, building materials, etc.
Information: Cherry Waddell at wadell.cherry@gmail .com, 770-596-1836 or search for Facebook page under New Hope Memorial Flight 242.
Donations are being accepted at Georgia Heritage Bank, attn: Sheilah Pickett, PO Box 1430, Dallas GA 30132.
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