Video: 'Continental Airlines Flight 11'

(Tuesday, May 22, 1962, 9:17 p.m. CDT) — Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashed tonight on a farm about six miles north-northwest of Unionville, Missouri, after a bomb brought on board by a passenger exploded, killing all 45 passengers and crew on the Boeing 707 jet flight from Chicago to Kansas City.

At approximately 9:17 p.m. CDT, an explosion occurred in the right rear lavatory, resulting in the separation of the tail section from the fuselage. The flight crew initiated the required emergency descent procedures and donned their smoke masks due to the dense fog that formed in the cabin immediately after decompression.

Following the separation of the tail, the remaining aircraft structure pitched nose down violently, causing the engines to tear off, after which it fell in uncontrolled gyrations. The fuselage of the Boeing 707, minus the aft 38 feet, and with part of the left and most of the right wing intact, struck the ground, headed westerly down a 10-degree slope of an alfalfa field.

Video: 'This guy blew up a plane for insurance money - Thomas G. Doty - Mass Murderer'

An investigation determined the cause of the crash was a suicide bombing committed as insurance fraud.

FBI agents discovered that Thomas G. Doty, a married man with a five-year-old daughter, had purchased a life insurance policy from Mutual of Omaha for $150,000 (roughly equivalent to $1 million in 2020 dollars), the maximum available; his death would also bring in another $150,000 in additional insurance (some purchased at the airport) and death benefits.

Doty was about to appear in court on an armed robbery charge. He had purchased six sticks of dynamite shortly before the flight and took them into the lavatory in his briefcase and ignited them. His motive was that his wife and daughter would collect on the $300,000 of life insurance. His widow attempted to collect on the insurance, but, when Doty’s death was ruled a suicide, the policy was voided.