Weld County was thrust into the media spotlight on the evening of November 1, 1955, when United Airlines Flight 629, a Douglas DC-6B airliner flying from Denver to Portland, Oregon, exploded in midair and crashed, killing all 44 persons on board the plane and scattering bodies, wreckage and debris over a six-square-mile area of the county. The subsequent investigation of the accident revealed that Denver resident John Gilbert Graham had secretly placed a time bomb composed of 25 sticks of dynamite in a suitcase belonging to his mother, who was a passenger on the airplane. Graham was tried and convicted of the crime, and executed in 1957.
Weld County was thrust into the media spotlight on the evening of November 1 1955 when United Airlines Flight 629 a Douglas DC-6B airliner flying from Denver to Portland Oregon exploded in midair and crashed killing all 44 persons on board the plane and scattering bodies wreckage and debris over a six-square-mile area of the county The subsequent investigation of the accident revealed that Denver resident John Gilbert Graham had secretly placed a time bomb composed of 25 sticks of dynamite in a suitcase belonging to his mother who was a passenger on the airplane Graham was tried and convicted of the crime and executed in 1957