What happened
On March 20, 1953, Transocean Air Lines Flight 942 departed from Roswell, New Mexico, bound for Oakland, California. The aircraft was operating under a contract with the United States Department of Defense to transport 30 military passengers. During the flight, the crew transitioned from visual flight rules to instrument flight rules while near Winslow, Arizona.
As the flight approached the final stages of its journey, the crew requested a lower altitude while passing over Evergreen, but air traffic control denied the request due to existing traffic at 7,000 feet. The aircraft subsequently entered a holding pattern at 8,000 feet near the Newark radio beacon. At 18:27, Oakland Approach Control cleared the flight for a straight-in range approach, instructing the crew to descend to 3,500 feet and report passing each 1,000-foot level.
The aircraft reported passing the Newark compass locator at 3,500 feet at 18:36, which served as the final radio communication from the flight. Shortly thereafter, at approximately 18:38, the Douglas DC-6 (implied by context of era/type, though source only specifies the flight) crashed into a barley field. The impact and subsequent fire resulted in 35 fatalities, leaving no survivors.
Findings
Investigation into the accident revealed that the aircraft was operating under instrument conditions with icing present in clouds above 5,000 feet. While the descent from 8,000 feet to 3,500 feet initially proceeded at a rate of roughly 750 feet per minute, the aircraft's descent rate accelerated to approximately 1,750 feet per minute after passing the Newark fan marker.
Witnesses observed the aircraft in a right wing low slipping attitude as it descended below the 1,300-foot cloud ceiling. There was no evidence of mechanical failure, structural disintegration, or in-flight fire prior to the crash. The investigation concluded that the aircraft became uncontrollable during its descent.