United Air Lines Flight 629

Common card · No. 237768

United Air Lines Flight 629, registration N37559 and dubbed Mainliner Denver, was a Douglas DC-6B aircraft that was blown up on November 1, 1955, by a dynamite bomb placed in the checked luggage. The explosion occurred over Weld County, Colorado, United States, 8 miles (13 km) east of Longmont, at 7:03 p.m. local time, while the airplane was en route from Denver to Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. All 39 passengers and 5 crew members on board were killed in the explosion and crash. Investigators determined that John Gilbert Graham was responsible for bombing the airplane in a bid to kill his mother as revenge for his childhood and to obtain a large life insurance payout. Within fifteen months of the explosion, Graham—who already had an extensive criminal record—was tried, convicted, and executed for the crime. It is the deadliest act of mass murder in Colorado’s history.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Jon Proctor, GFDL 1.2