1967: Jet crashes into Food Giant

Plane Plows Into Tucson Shopping Center

15 FEARED DEAD IN FIERY CRASH

2 Homes Razed By Falling F4D Near Airbase

By KEN BURTON

Fifteen persons were believed killed last night and at least a dozen injured when a U.S. Air Force F4D jet crashed into the rear of a Food Giant store at the Cactus Shopping Center at E. 29th St., and S. Alvernon Way.

Capt. Ellis Franklin of the Tucson Fire Dept. said at press time this morning that he feared the death toll might reach 15.

Eight of the deaths were confirmed as still more bodies were being removed from the gutted store and homes to the rear of the market.

At least two houses to the rear of the shopping center complex were also destroyed as a fireball of JP-4 aviation fuel engulfed the area, creating a holocaust.

Air Force officers said the two-man crew, Flight Lt. Jack R. Hamilton of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), the pilot, and U.S. Capt. Gary L. Hughes, the navigator, were able to parachute from the plane before it crashed.

Tim Oned, of ---- E. 32nd St., was standing on S. Winstel Ave. when the plane hit the ground shortly after 5:30 p.m.

"I saw two planes heading north above me," said Oned. "They were flying side-by-side, when two objects shot out of the eastern aircraft . . . I realized later these were parachutes."

Witnesses, including Oned, said the aircraft then turned on its side and descended upside down. Oned said when it hit, "It exploded like a bomb you see on television."

Another witness, 15-year-old Roswell Burk, of ---- S. Baxter Pl., said he was just blocks away from the supermarket when he saw the jet approaching.

"When the plane came over, it tipped a little and it looked like a wing caught on one wall — and it just blew up," Burk said, explaining how the craft slammed into an alley directly behind the store.

The plane was loaded with more than 16,000 pounds of volatile JP-4 aviation fuel, which it had taken on prior to leaving Davis-Monthan AFB. The plane was based at Nellis AFB, Nev.

The fuel exploded across houses and ripped a fiery path through the grocery store, which was dotted with holiday shoppers and employes.

Ernest Sanchez, a Tucson Gas & Electric Co. employe who was driving by the store when the crash occurred, stopped his car and ran inside to help men, women and children escape.

Reports indicated that between 20 and 30 persons escaped before the fire completely engulfed the store's inside.

Aby Mogy, a self-employed truck driver who runs Mogy's Towing Service, was helping a stranded motorist some 300 yards from the supermarket when he saw the plane fall.

Mogy said he heard "a thud," saw "not more than 20 people" run out, and immediately got on his two-way radio in his wrecker and called for the fire department. He was credited with the first alarm.

More than 85 city firemen — 50 regulars, plus 35 off-duty men called back to work — responded to the three separate alarms that sent a total of 10 pieces of fire and rescue equipment to the tragedy.

Firefighting teams also rushed to the blaze from David-Monthan and Air National Guard headquarters. D-M also sent several ambulances and teams of medics.

Some 100 city policemen and other officers from South Tucson, the Arizona Highway Patrol, the Pima County Sheriff's Office, plus Civil Defense teams, the Sheriff's Search & Rescue Unit and the Red Cross—all rushed to the crash site.

"We've got every law enforcement and rescue agency in the city and county out here fighting this thing," said one city patrolman. "I don't think we've missed anyone."

Residents in the block behind the market said it looked as though four houses were hit by the initial fireball.

J. A. Eribe, ---- S. Winstel Blvd., lives directly across from one home that was hit. He said he heard "a loud roar, and a terrific explosion." Before his family reached their windows, Eribe said they could see the fire racing in behind them.

Outside, Eribe recalled, a man came running from his own home screaming, "My baby! My baby! She's still in there!"

The home was believed occupied by the James Tilton family, at ---- S. Winstel. Two bodies were recovered from that residence early last night. One of the dead was identified as Sherri Tilton, 19, trapped in her bedroom.

Eribe later told a reporter: "I'm getting the hell out of here and moving. I'm not going to live here any longer."

Meanwhile, the 21-year-old Sanchez said he saw "at least" six people inside the stopre, adding: "Those people didn't have a chance." Sanchez dragged a hysterical mother from the store as she started to go back for her child. The spot where her child had stood was a searing fireball.

"It was the worst thing I've ever seen in my life." Sanchez said. "One minute they were picking greens. The next minute , they just weren't there."

Tucson's hospitals went on alert last night, but it was not necessary to put their disaster plans into full effect, chiefly because there were relatively few injured.

Physicians and off-duty nurses reported in great numbers to St. Mary's, St. Joseph's and Tucson Medical Center emergency rooms as soon as they heard of the tragedy.

The hospitals were prepared to treat any number of victims, and had opened their disaster supplies of bedding, plasma, and burn remedies in preparation for patients from the accident.

At press time, all the injured treated at local hospitals had gone to the emergency rooms with members of their families, not by ambulance.

Firemen and city workers, under the direction of Tom Price, superintendent of the Sanitation Dept., loaded debris into five pickup and six dump trucks last night. Captain Franklin estimated that the men may not finish their mop-up operation until noon today.

Deputy Fire Chief Kenneth Dirks, in charge of the giant fire and recovery operation, said the blaze "could wind up being one of the worst tragedies in Tucson history."

First reports concerning the number of people trapped inside houses to the rear of the store and in the store itself were confused. Dazed witnesses who had fled the supermarket could only mumble when asked how many failed to make the doors.

Admitted for shock at St. Joseph's Hospital last night was Mrs. Rayalda Chavez, 40, --- Calle Colado, a Food Giant cashier who was not otherwise injured.

Mrs. Victoria Steffania Palmer, 55, a clerk at Food Giant who had reported for work only five minutes before the crash, was identified by her husband, James, late last night at Bring's Mortuary. She lived at ---- Monthan Strav. and is survived by a son and two daughters.