Willowbrook in DuPage County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

TWA Flight 529 Memorial

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, April 22, 2025

1. TWA Flight 529 Memorial (front side)

Inscription.

TWA Flight 529 Memorial. . , On September 1, 1961 TWA Flight 529, a Lockheed Constellation carrying 78 passengers and crew crashed just southwest of this site. At the time, it was the deadliest single plane accident in the country's history. , , This memorial is dedicated to the 78 passengers and crew lost that morning , , Passengers , Daniel Accardi . Magda Accardi . Robert Aiken . Linda Annis . Albert Barouh . John Bartram . Nancy Bergstrom . Roger Berriff . Woodrow Bevans . Donna Brodish . David Brown . Grant Chamberlain . James Chamberlain . Nancy Chamberlain . Richard Chamberlain . Edward Chamberlain, Jr . Edward Chamberlain, Sr . Carole Chase . Agnes Drazenovich . Frances Gilliam . Karen Gilliam . Linda Gilliam . Neil Gilliam . Thomas Gilliam . Lillian Ginsberg . Robert Gordon . Beth Harnish . Timothy Hubley . Larry Hulbert . Mary Johansen . Terry Jones . John Kilroy, Jr . Alexander Kiss . Miklos Kmetty . Catherine Kraft . Glenn Kraft . Regina Laughlin . Emma Little . Harold Lockhart . John MacKenzie . John Macosko . Catherine Mahoney . Paul Mahoney . Paula Mahoney . Florence Maloney . James Maloney . Mary Kay Maloney . Maureen Maloney . Michael Maloney . Richard Maloney, Jr . Richard Maloney, Sr . Charles McCallister . Ray McLaughlin . Kenneth Myers . David O'Melia . Lynda Peaslee . Beverley Remnant . Elmer Remnant . John Remnant . Sylvia Remnant . Alva Royer . Russell Sanders . Julius Schmitt . Marie Schlinquer . Robert Siegel . Anton Skurcenski . Jessie Skurcenski . Monica Sun . Marilyn Waldron . Nancy Walker . Carol Walls . Donald Walls . Estella Woods , , Flight Crew , James Sanders, Captain . Dale Tarrant, First Officer . James Newlin III, Flight Engineer . Nanette Fidger, Flight Attendant . Barbara Pearson, Flight Attendant , , In recognition of the volunteer first responders. , "Unselfish and noble actions are the most radiant pages in the biography of souls." ,

David Thomas

, Clarendon Heights Fire Protection District , Chief John Heidenreich . Asst Chief Robert Brzybyla . Captain George Remkus, Sr . Captain George Ernest . Chief Engineer David Griffin . Lt. Dan Heidenreich . Lt. Leroy Zobjeck . Nick Proce . Bob Zimmer . Joe Jereb . George Remkus, Jr . Leroy Pearson . Doug Oakley . Irv Hogrefe . Harry Levy . Frank Trout . Art Nissen . George Trout . Dan Valdez . Phil Holsten . Jim Seeden , , Volunteer Departments , Clarendon Heights . Clarendon Hills . Westmont . Downers Grove . La Grange . Western Springs . Tri State . Brookfield . La Grange Park . Pleasantview . Hinsdale . Downers Grove Ests

On September 1, 1961 TWA Flight 529, a Lockheed Constellation carrying 78 passengers and crew crashed just southwest of this site. At the time, it was the deadliest single plane accident in the country's history.

This memorial is dedicated to the 78 passengers and crew lost that morning

Passengers
Daniel Accardi • Magda Accardi • Robert Aiken • Linda Annis • Albert Barouh • John Bartram • Nancy Bergstrom • Roger Berriff • Woodrow Bevans • Donna Brodish • David Brown • Grant Chamberlain • James Chamberlain • Nancy Chamberlain • Richard Chamberlain • Edward Chamberlain, Jr • Edward Chamberlain, Sr • Carole Chase • Agnes Drazenovich • Frances Gilliam • Karen Gilliam • Linda Gilliam • Neil Gilliam • Thomas Gilliam • Lillian Ginsberg • Robert Gordon • Beth Harnish • Timothy Hubley • Larry Hulbert • Mary Johansen • Terry Jones • John Kilroy, Jr • Alexander Kiss • Miklos Kmetty • Catherine Kraft • Glenn Kraft • Regina Laughlin • Emma Little • Harold Lockhart • John MacKenzie • John Macosko • Catherine Mahoney • Paul Mahoney • Paula Mahoney • Florence Maloney • James Maloney • Mary Kay Maloney • Maureen Maloney • Michael Maloney • Richard Maloney, Jr • Richard Maloney, Sr • Charles McCallister • Ray McLaughlin • Kenneth Myers • David O'Melia • Lynda Peaslee • Beverley Remnant • Elmer Remnant • John Remnant

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• Sylvia Remnant • Alva Royer • Russell Sanders • Julius Schmitt • Marie Schlinquer • Robert Siegel • Anton Skurcenski • Jessie Skurcenski • Monica Sun • Marilyn Waldron • Nancy Walker • Carol Walls • Donald Walls • Estella Woods

Flight Crew
James Sanders, Captain • Dale Tarrant, First Officer • James Newlin III, Flight Engineer • Nanette Fidger, Flight Attendant • Barbara Pearson, Flight Attendant

In recognition of the volunteer first responders
"Unselfish and noble actions are the most radiant pages in the biography of souls."

David Thomas

Clarendon Heights Fire Protection District
Chief John Heidenreich • Asst Chief Robert Brzybyla • Captain George Remkus, Sr • Captain George Ernest • Chief Engineer David Griffin • Lt. Dan Heidenreich • Lt. Leroy Zobjeck • Nick Proce • Bob Zimmer • Joe Jereb • George Remkus, Jr • Leroy Pearson • Doug Oakley • Irv Hogrefe • Harry Levy • Frank Trout • Art Nissen • George Trout • Dan Valdez • Phil Holsten • Jim Seeden

Volunteer Departments
Clarendon Heights • Clarendon Hills • Westmont • Downers Grove • La Grange • Western Springs • Tri State • Brookfield • La Grange Park • Pleasantview • Hinsdale • Downers Grove Ests

Erected 2021.

Topics. This historical marker and memorial is listed

TWA Flight 529 Memorial (rear side) image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, April 22, 2025

2. TWA Flight 529 Memorial (rear side)

in these topic lists: Air & Space • Disasters. A significant historical date for this entry is September 1, 1961.

Location. 41° 46.814′ N, 87° 57.305′ W. Marker is in Willowbrook, Illinois, in DuPage County. It is on Clarendon Hills Road 0.1 miles south of 59th Street, on the right when traveling north. The memorial is just west of the pond at Prairie Trail Park. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 5942 Clarendon Hills Road, Willowbrook IL 60527, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker and memorial is in Greater Chicago.

It is also in the American Midwest

and on the Great Lakes.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture

and also the Northwest Territory.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: 9/11 Memorial (within shouting distance of this marker); Kruml Park (approx. 0.6 miles away); Robert W. Bernas Park (approx. 0.8 miles away); Hinsdale Central High School First Night Game (approx. 1.1 miles away); Clarendon Hills Honor Roll World War II (approx. 1.2 miles away); Lloyd R. Church (approx. 1.2 miles away); POW-MIA Memorial (approx. 1½ miles away); Darien Peace Memorial (approx. 1½ miles away).

More about this marker. The memorial was dedicated on September 1, 2021, the 60th anniversary of the plane crash. The crash site itself, about ¼ of a mile west of here, is now an undeveloped lot in a suburban residential neighborhood.

Regarding TWA Flight 529 Memorial.

Memorial at Prairie Trail Park image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, April 22, 2025

3. Memorial at Prairie Trail Park

On September 1, 1961, a Lockheed Constellation L-049 plane took off at 2 a.m. from Chicago's Midway Airport. Roughly five minutes later, the plane crashed into a cornfield about 11 miles west in Willowbrook, killing all 78 passengers, and leaving a debris field 200 feet wide and 1,100 feet long. Investigators determined that the crash had been caused by the loss of a 5/16-mm bolt in the elevator boost at some point before takeoff; as a result, the plane violently shot upwards, causing pilots to lose control, and then went into a stall before crashing into the cornfield.

At the time it occurred, the crash was the deadliest single-plane accident in American history. As of April 2025, and not including the four planes that were hijacked on September 11, 2001, the deadliest plane accident in U.S. history not related to terrorism also occurred in the Chicago area: American Airlines Flight 191, which crashed in Des Plaines shortly after takeoff from O'Hare on May 25, 1979, killing 271 passengers and two people on the ground.

Also see . . .
1. Aviation Safety Network: TWA Flight 529.

Excerpt: "PROBABLE CAUSE: 'The loss of an AN-175-21 nickel steel bolt from the parallelogram linkage of the elevator boost system, resulting in loss of control of the aircraft.'"

(Submitted on April 23, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

Prairie Trail Park image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, April 22, 2025

4. Prairie Trail Park

The TWA Flight 529 Memorial is not visible, to the right, near the pathway along Clarendon Hills Road.

2. WGN-TV Chicago: 60 years after plane crash, group working to honor victims (Video). (Submitted on April 23, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)
3. Time Magazine: Disasters: Four Minutes Out. Preserved on the Wayback Machine, a Time brief that was included in the September 8, 1961, edition of the magazine.

Excerpt: "At 2:04 a.m., four minutes out of Chicago's Midway Airport, something—Civil Aeronautics Board investigators are trying to discover what it was—went seriously wrong. Pilot James Sanders, 40, veered north from his southwest heading as he fought for control of the Connie. In the Chicago suburb of Clarendon Hills, homeowners heard a sputtering of engines overhead, then a glass-shattering roar; for a moment, some thought that there had been a nuclear explosion at the famed Argonne National Laboratory near by. But the noise was the death of Flight 529, as it crunched into the earth and skidded in flame for half a mile across a field of corn and soybeans. There was no time to escape; the crew of five and all 73 passengers were burned to death, in the most costly single-plane disaster of U.S. commercial aviation history.*

*The record air crash came last Dec. 16. when a TWA Super Constellation collided with a United Air Lines DC-8 jet over New York City, killed 134 (TIME, Dec. 26).

(Submitted on April 23, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)

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Credits. This page was last revised on April 27, 2026. It was originally submitted on April 23, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 1,353 times since then and 215 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on April 23, 2025, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.