A Look Back - 1965: Airplane hit power line before crash

A radio operator at El Toro Marine Air Base heard a scream over the airwaves, and then silence in the seconds before a twin-engine airplane crashed and burned on a hill near the intersection of MacArthur Boulevard and Ford Road in Newport Beach on May 29, 1965.

All nine people aboard the eight-passenger Beechcraft airplane died in the fiery crash, The Los Angeles Times reported in an article dated May 30, 1965.

Witnesses saw the airplane strike a power line and catch fire shortly after taking off about 6:30 a.m. from the Orange County Airport, now known as John Wayne Airport.

The burning plane crashed into the top of a hill near the intersection of MacArthur Boulevard and Ford Road, smashing into pieces.

“The impact ripped the plane into shreds,” The Times reported. “Fragments were scattered over an area of 200 yards. Both wings were torn off. The two engines broke loose and landed 75 feet from the fuselage.”

Rescue workers found three bodies inside the fuselage that were burned beyond recognition. The bodies of the other passengers, as well as their personal possessions, were scattered across the hilly area where the plane had crashed.

The plane, piloted by Malvern K. Leisy, a doctor from Altadena, was bound for Baja, Calif. for a vacation filled with fishing and skin diving expeditions.

“Dr. Leisy had a private pilot’s license, an instrument license and a multi-engine license, had flown more than 1,000 hours and was a very capable pilot,” Richard Kennedy, one of Leisy’s friends and former patients, told the Los Angeles Times the day of the crash.

Kennedy had let Leisy borrow the $25,000 plane for the vacation trip.

Also aboard the plane that day were Leisy’s two young sons, Derek, 12, and David Kurt, 10.

Three young aerospace engineers also perished in the crash: Jay Clearwaters, 29, of Costa Mesa; Charles Rauch, 24, of Costa Mesa and Don Batchman, 29, of Corona del Mar. All three had worked as engineers for Philco Corp., a subsidiary of the Ford Motor Co., in Newport Beach.

The dead also included Melissa Littrell, 26, of Balboa Island; Barbara Rothrock, 33, of Altadena; and John Goodwin, 32, of Anaheim.