“However, the theory about sabotage resulting in the airliner crash is also relevant and arguable, given the information we have about the suspects in question.
“In my opinion, the data and evidence strongly supports the notion that Gene Crosthwaite was experiencing a debilitating emotional decompensation, had the motivation to kill himself and attempt to cause embarrassment to his employer, and likely had the means to sabotage the airliner to result in a crash.
“The evidence to suggest or support a theory of Gene Crosthwaite sabotaging Pan Am Flight 7 is much more plausible, and fits with the clinical and sociological picture as compared to the possibility that William Payne orchestrated and caused the tragedy in an attempt to collude with his wife to fake his own death.”
And what did Dr. Kieliszewski think about my theory that Crosthwaite’s childhood fall from a burro and resulting unconsciousness might have been a factor in the purser’s mental health as an adult?
“I think the brain injury (unconscious for five days - definitely a brain injury) could have contributed to the development of mental illness later in life. Absolutely,” he told me in a post-report interview. It almost certainly was one piece of the puzzle in Crosthwaite’s development of mental illness, he said.
His professional opinion matched my own theory.
In US criminal law there are three aspects of a crime that prosecutors must establish before they can hope for a conviction: means, motive, and opportunity.
Oliver Eugene Crosthwaite had all three. William Harrison Payne had all three. In some ways, Pan American World Airways had all three.
For Crosthwaite the means would have been the blasting powder that investigators could never find, despite turning his house upside down, and the fact that he had been secretly making something in his basement workshop in the days prior to the crash.
The motive? There were many: the recent death of his wife; the rejection of his amorous advances on her Russian girlfriend; the ax he had to grind against Pan Am; and a stepdaughter he perceived to be out of control.
Add to those the brain injury from his childhood fall, his adult mental illness, the abuse of alcohol, and the possibility of drug-induced paranoia resulting from his treatment for tuberculosis and you have all the ingredients necessary.
The opportunity? He was scheduled for Flight 7 more than a week prior to its departure. He was the first crewman to board Romance of the Skies, and no one would question what might have been in his two suitcases that likely were stowed with the rest of the crew’s luggage in the forward cargo department beneath the cockpit. He also was carrying a gladstone travel bag, a small, carry-on suitcase popular with airline crews and not considered luggage that must be stored.
As purser, he oversaw the downstairs cocktail lounge/bar and had full access to every section of the plane, including the cockpit, where one of his duties was to ensure the crew had plenty of hot coffee. He also knew when the airplane would make radio reports and at what point it would be the farthest from land, and therefore unable to return to San Francisco because of fuel limitations.
Plenty of opportunity.
Tania said her stepfather had made this prophetic statement not long before his final flight:
“Gene said if he was to die, there was only one way he wanted to die, and that was in the aircraft he was flying on. He didn’t want to die of any sickness, but in the plane.”
And Payne? His means was his frequent handling of dynamite, his expertise in blowing things up, and his easy access to explosives, sometimes with homemade, timed devices.
His motive? Financial distress and huge life-insurance policies, the proceeds of which either ended up entirely in his widow’s hands or were split between a “grieving” widow and her husband, who had escaped to a new life outside of the country.
Opportunity? Little or no security while the plane sat for two days away far from the passenger terminal, with no passenger security screening before boarding the aircraft itself.
Many troubling and unanswered questions remain about Payne; curious circumstances and coincidences involving him and his family in the last months of his life are still unexplained. But there is nothing to indicate that he might have been suicidal. More importantly, not a single shred of evidence has arisen in more than sixty years to indicate that he was alive after November 8, 1957. Payne as a lone saboteur is an interesting story, but nothing more.
The final suspect, Pan American World Airways, was a magnificent and justifiably proud airline company that opened the world to travelers from all walks of life. It would not deliberately destroy its own airplane and kill innocent people, but it certainly had the indirect means to do so with questionable maintenance and cost-cutting inspections.
The motive would have been money, because Pan Am’s Pacific-Alaska Division was bleeding it in 1957. Airplanes in maintenance hangars don’t make money; the only way they can help generate a profit is to be in the air as much as possible.
The opportunity? Any plane at any time during that period was an accident waiting to happen, according to CAB investigators, and to the union that insisted Pan Am was operating unsafe aircraft.
Stratocruisers were plagued with mechanical issues, most of them easily and inexpensively fixed, but there is absolutely no proof—not even a shred of evidence—that Romance of the Skies was unfit for flight on November 8, 1957.
Possible. Plausible. Probable.
All three suspects were possible and plausible killers. But what was the probable cause?
After my lifelong search for my father’s killer, all the available evidence and my extensive research leads me to one conclusion: the bereaved and mentally unstable purser Oliver Eugene Crosthwaite deliberately caused the crash of Flight 7, killing himself and murdering forty-three innocent people in the process.
How he did it we likely will never know.
Until the plane’s wreckage is found at the bottom of the ocean and physical evidence proves otherwise, the lifelong search for my father’s killer has ended.
I have kept my promises and now I can sleep.
See you on the next flight out, Dad.
Saturday, June 11, 1955
“Dear Mom and Boys:
“It’s a letter from your old Dad again. I don’t know anything special to write about but maybe you would like to know that I am still kicking. Don’t know for sure when I’ll be coming home, but maybe we’ll know something soon.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if they sent me home any day. It wouldn’t make me mad, either. I miss you all so much. I know you don’t miss me nearly so much as I miss you, but then you don’t need me as I do you. Well, I’m going to make you need me when I come home. I’m going to smooch you until you turn purple with passion and then I’m going to sleep.
“You know that I am insanely happy, and the only reason is you. You are all I live for. You and my boys. The boys might be so big when I get home, they might not know me. Tell them to eat and get really big for me. . .
“Ten million years from tonight, whether I’m lighting stars in Heaven or clinking chunks of coal down there, I will be loving all of you with all my heart and soul as I do tonight.
“I love you always and always and always
“Your Dad."
Tuberculosis remains one of the leading causes of death and illness in the world.
My mother, Ronnie Everette Fortenberry, remarried after I was grown but died from complications of Alzheimer’s on June 25, 2010, at the age of 85. She was still in love with her grumbling and devoted Bill.
Tania Crosthwaite didn’t inherit a penny from her stepfather’s estate, and the house in Felton was sold at a public auction to settle her stepfather’s financial affairs.
When Katherina Pavlichenko, purser Gene Crosthwaite’s mother-in-law, left China in April 1951 for her new life in the United States, she was a passenger on Romance of the Skies for the Honolulu-to-San Francisco segment of her trip. She died in the 1970s.
Harriet Avah
Hunter Theiler Payne Isaac Power died on September 5, 1997, at the age of 81. Her fourth husband, George T. Power, died three weeks later. They lived in Sonora, California.
Siskiyou County Sheriff Allen B. Cottar, the officer who convinced Scott Bar Postmistress Jessie Payne not to talk with Western Life Insurance investigator Russell Stiles in 1958, resigned from office in 1975 after a grand jury accused him of accepting $500 a month from a land developer, and submitting fraudulent bills and destroying public documents.
After being retired from commercial service, most of the remaining Boeing Stratocruiser fleet (Stratocruisers were Boeing’s last propeller-driven airplanes) was sold as scrap for about $9,000 each. A few were converted into “Pregnant Guppies” and used as military and commercial cargo haulers for many years.
Bodies Recovered and Causes of Death
Only 19 bodies from Romance of the Skies were recovered. Here are their names and autopsy summaries:
Robert Spencer Alexander, 38, Los Altos, California, pulmonary congestion and edema. Other conditions: fracture of upper sternum with mild hemorrhage.
Margaret Alexander, 33, Los Altos, California, probable drowning. Other conditions: fracture of right ribs, three, four and five.
Judy Alexander, 9, Los Altos, California, probable drowning
Yvonne Lucy Alexander, 26, San Francisco, probable drowning.
Gordon H. Brown, 40, Los Altos, California, undetermined. Other conditions: fracture of sternum, left ribs 3 through 11, left clavicle (marine life evisceration and avulsion).
Mrs. Tomiko Boyd, 36, Baltimore, Maryland, asphyxiation due to drowning and/or fracture of hyoid bone.
Mrs. Ann Carter Clack, 35, Tokyo and Midland, Michigan, multiple compound rib fractures, massive internal hemorrhage, dislocated neck.
Scott Clack, 6, Tokyo and Midland, Michigan, probable drowning, fracture of left clavicle.
Commander Gordon Cole, 36, Alexandria, Virginia, extensive basal skull fracture and multiple rib fractures.
Oliver E. Crosthwaite, 45, Felton, California, probable drowning. Other conditions: subarachnoid hemorrhage.
William Homer Deck, 24, Radford, Virginia, subdural and subarchnoid hemorrhage. Other conditions: extensive decomposition avulsion of skin and subcutaneous tissue over left forehead and left calf.
Edward Ellis, 45, Hillsborough, California, transection of thoracic aorta and fracture, dislocation of neck.
Dr. William Hagan, 37, Louisville, Kentucky, subdural hematoma, left occipitoparietal (brain) region.
Robert Halliday, 38, New South Wales, Australia, fractured cervical vertebrae with spinal cord and basal skull fracture.
Nicole Truchy LaMaison, 34, New York City, probable drowning.
Thomas McGrail, 52, West Roxbury, Massachusetts, multiple injuries, fracture of ribs, right ankle. Other conditions: Ruptured left kidney and spleen.
Philip Sullivan, 59, Arlington, Virginia, fractured sternum and ribs and other damage.
Cassiqua Soehertijah Van Der Bijl, multiple cervical vertebrae fractures, other fractures.
Toyoe Tanaka, 50, Tokyo, undetermined, probable drowning. Other conditions: fracture of right ribs, 3, 4 and 5.
Bodies Lost at Sea and Never Recovered
David Alexander, 11, Los Altos, California
Marion Florence Bluim Barber, 49, Shaker Heights, Ohio
Fred Choy, 31, San Mateo, California
Bruce Clack, 9, Tokyo and Midland, Michigan
H. Lee Clack, 36, Tokyo and Midland, Michigan
Kimi Clack, 7, Tokyo and Midland, Michigan
Nancy Mariko Clack, 2, Tokyo and Midland, Michigan
Melih Dural, 25, Ankara, Turkey
William Holland Fortenberry, 35, Santa Clara, California
Norma Hagan, 34, Louisville, Kentucky
Sergeant David Hill, 21, Pink Hill, NC and Honolulu
Commander Joseph Jones, 33, New York City
John (Jack) King, 42, San Francisco
Hideo Kubota, Tokyo
Robert LaMaison, 41, New York City
Marie McGrath, 26, Burlingame, California
Soledad Mercado, 52, Phoenix, Arizona
William H. Payne, 45, Scott Bar, California
Ruby Quong, 29, San Francisco
Albert Pinataro, 26, Belmont, California
Louis Rodriguez, 53, San Francisco
Helen Rowland, 60, Springfield, Vermont
Bess Sullivan, 58, Arlington, Virginia
Major Harold Sunderland, 37, Miles, Montana, and Sacramento, California
William P. Wygant, 37, Sausalito, California
Index
A
AIRINC 59-60
Air and Space magazine 268, 278, 280-281
Alma, Michigan 70
Alexander, Robert 38, 58, 93, 113, 237, 338
Alexander, Yvonne 34-35, 83, 112, 338
Ashcraft, Robert 196
assassination 244, 248-249
B
Bakke, Oscar 163-164, 175
Bamman, Max 61
Barber, Marion 39, 341
Belmont, Alan H. 136, 143
Beyssac, Jean V. de 15
Boeing Company 48-49, 55, 156-157, 283
Boyd, Tomiko 41-42, 339
Brown, Capt. Gordon H. 4, 31-32, 44, 48, 54, 56-58, 66, 69, 83, 90, 97, 159-160, 338
Brown, James and Charles 81, 169-170, 214, 223
Burma 35, 40, 244, 246, 247
C
cabin heater 159-160, 236-239
Canon City, Colorado 190, 204
carbon monoxide 154, 158-160, 162, 175-177, 183, 185, 292, 236-240, 247, 249
Carlovsky, Lt. Earl E. 87-88
Carvahalo, Coraino 44
Central Intelligence Agency x, xi, 109, 232, 244, 246
Chinese National Aviation Corporation 200
Choy, Frederick B.H. 42
Chrisp, Robert 157, 279
chrome mining 192, 209, 218-219, 220-222
Civil Aeronautics Board x, 54, 82, 96, 99, 100, 101-103, 107, 109, 112-114, 115-118, 122-124, 126, 128, 131-136, 141-144, , 154-156, 158-159, 161-164, 173, 175-177, 183-186, 188, 195-196, 202, 234, 238-249, 268-269, 277, 279-283, 306-307, 310, 313-314, 318, 321, 332
Clack, Douglas 77,
Clack, Lee and family vii, 25-26, 38, 42, 68-69, 120, 145, 231, 339-340
Clack, Rev. Robert 72
Clack, Wynne 68-69
Clarke, Martyn V. 157-158
Cole, Commander Gordon 33-34, 339
Collar, Charles S. 123-128, 132, 135, 163, 310, 314
Collier, Robert A. 100-112
Cowan, Lt. Commander Paul G. 87-88
communist xi, 104-105, 121, 136-137, 246-247
Crocker, Tom viii, 62
Crosthwaite, Harold Richard 314-318
Crosthwaite, Julia 9, 21-22, 115, 127, 129, 133, 295, 298, 300-305, 311, 313, 316, 318, 321, 327-328
Crosthwaite, Marie (Mary) 117, 126, 198, 292
Crosthwaite, Oliver Eugene 6-11, 21-23, 28-30, 32-33, 53, 83, 90, 97, 110, 112, 115-120, 129, 131-136, 185, 188, 195, 197, 311, 331, 333, 339
Crosthwaite, Tania 7-11, 21-22, 28, 115-116, 119-120, 129-131, 201, 276-277, 283, 287-303, 304-318, 321, 327-328, 332, 336
USS Carbonero 74
USS Craig John R. 74
USS Cusk 74
D
Daniels, Capt. Neil 265
Deck, William 39, 146, 339
Dexter, Richard 121-122
Dow Chemical Company 38, 69, 107-108, 120, 145, 231, 248
Driscoll, Raymond J. 82
Durfee, James R. 141-144, 183, 279-280
Dural, Melih 39, 341
dynamite 111, 217, 223, 307, 332
E
Earhart, Amelia 72
Ellis, Edward T. 36-37, 94, 339
Eisenhower, President Dwight D. 122, 141, 249
USS Epperson 88
Evans, Admiral Stephen H. 84
F
Federal Aviation Agency 188-189, 270, 280
Federal Bureau of Investigat
ion x, 85, 93, 96-98, 104-109, 111-115, 117-118, 121-123, 126, 135-137, 141-144, 158, 168, 170-171, 173-175, 189-190, 196, 212, 282-283, 310-311
Felton, California 10. 119, 127-129, 131-132, 201, 294, 297, 299, 302, 306, 316, 336, 339
Ferguson, Dick, viii, 60-61, 89
Fortenberry, Craig H. viii, 60-61, 74, 92, 139-40, 148, 229, 273-274
Fortenberry, Jerry H. viii, 19, 50, 63, 67-68, 70, 74, 139-140, 148, 150-151, 273-275, 285
Fortenberry, William H. 3-5, 16-18, 48, 50, 61-63, 67-68, 71, 78, 83, 273, 341
Fortune, Norvin B. 27, 30-31
Frankfurt, Germany 34, 70, 73, 151, 186
G
Gaffrey, Lt. Lee J. viii, 87
Garcia, Frank Jr, viii, 269-270
Gillespie, Hal 69
Goodman, Judge Louis Earl 178-179
Graham, Jack Gilbert 111
Guisness, Earl 168-169, 170, 214
H
Hagan, Dr. William and Norma 43, 339-341
Halliday, Robert 37, 78, 93,340
Hansen, Lawrence 220, 224-225, 227-228
Herken, Dr. Gregg vii, 267-269, 271-272, 277-278, 290
Hickam Field 75
Hill, Sgt. David Anderson 42, 340
Hillsborough, California 71, 253, 339
Holloman, F.C. 109-112
Honolulu, Hawaii ix, xi, 3-5, 10,18, 24, 27, 29-30, 32, 35, 36, 39, 42-44, 46, 50, 54, 56, 59, 62, 66, 68, 76, 79, 82-83, 88, 99, 108, 117, 127, 154, 162, 169, 174, 184, 197, 217, 224, 227, 229, 255-256, 273, 336
Hoover, J. Edgar x, 85, 98-99, 104-109, 111-114, 118, 121-122, 126, 135-136, 141, 144, 174-175, 189-190
Hoover, Isaac 159-160
Hostutler, Ray 107, 111
Houlgate, Deke 85, 88, 90-91
Huang, C.H. 24-25
Huston, John 124
I
IBM computers 28, 45, 160-165
Ice, Phil 101, 157, 163
Isaac, Karim Harry 164-168, 178
J
Japan 28, 34, 37-39, 41, 47, 60, 93, 113, 120, 145-146, 178-179, 200, 229, 244, 247