On the afternoon of January 30, 1949, a mid-air collision occurred over downtown Port Washington, New York â a suburban community on the Cow Neck Peninsula of Long Island.
Known as the 1949 Port Washington mid-air collision, the accident occurred when Pan Am Flight 100 â a scheduled passenger flight to Shannon Airport in Ireland from LaGuardia Airport in New York City, operated by Pan American World Airways using a Lockheed L-749A Constellation â collided in mid-air with a private Cessna 140.
Pan Am Flight 100 was en route to Shannon from LaGuardia Airport. The Cessna 140 was on a local flight from Meriden Airport in Meriden, Connecticut.
The Constellation sustained substantial damage but landed without casualties at Mitchel Air Force Base in the East Garden City section of nearby Uniondale, New York. The Cessna crashed, resulting in the death of the pilot and the sole passenger. Debris rained down upon large swaths of Port Washington â primarily within the Beacon Hill neighborhood and in the vicinity of North Maryland Avenue, North Bayles Avenue, and Herbert Avenue.
The Civil Aeronautics Board attributed the collision to the failure of both pilots to observe and avoid each other.
The pilot in command of the Constellation was George F. Knuth, who was later killed in 1963 while serving as the captain of Pan Am Flight 214. Notable passengers aboard the Pan Am flight included English theatrical producer Harold Fielding and Laszlo Halasz, director of the New York City Opera.