United Airlines Flight 629 was using a Douglas DC-6B airliner ( named " Mainliner Denver " ) piloted by World War II veteran Lee Hall , on the evening of November 1 , 1955 . The flight had originated at New York City 's LaGuardia Airport , making a stop in Chicago before continuing to Denver ; it then took off from Denver , Colorado 's Stapleton Airfield , bound for Portland , Oregon , with continuing service to Seattle . Minutes after the plane 's departure from Denver , the DC-6B exploded and the flaming wreckage fell to earth over tracts of farmland and sugar beet fields near Longmont , Colorado . There were no survivors
United Airlines Flight 629
United Airlines Flight 629
Jack Gilbert Graham