July 9, 1964

Flight 823

Hearses gather to collect the remains of the 39 fatalities.

United Airlines Flight 823 took off from Philadelphia International Airport late in the afternoon on July 9, 1964.

Bound for Huntsville, Alabama, the Vickers Viscount 745D was carrying 35 passengers and four crew members.

In mid-flight, something ignited a fire in the lower portion of the fuselage and soon spread upward and consumed the passenger compartment in flames.

Lethal amounts of CO₂ seeped into cockpit. The flight crew lost consciousness and the aircraft assumed an erratic flight pattern as the fire raged out of control.

As the plane descended, one passenger jumped through an escape hatch, but he didn’t survive the free-fall.

The plane crashed two miles northeast of Parrotsville, Tennessee, around 6:15 p.m. None of the 39 passengers or crew members survived.

Although the source of the fire was never officially determined, it is believe that either the plane’s battery overheated or something in the passenger’s luggage caused the fire.

Riding a Winning Streak

With the All-Star Game and Johnny Callison’s walk-off, three-run homer in the rear-view mirror, the Phillies resumed the season with a six-game home stand.

Riding a four-game winning streak in which the Phils swept three games from the Giants at Candlestick Park, they found themselves atop the National League with a 47-28 record and 1½ games ahead of the Giants.

First up were three games with the Cincinnati Reds in an out-of-the-ordinary Thursday-Friday-Saturday series. The Reds were in third place and six games behind. The Phillies had taken 4-of-5 from the Reds thus far.

Since Jim Bunning and Chris Short both pitched in the All-Star game, Gene Mauch started the second-half rotation with Ray Culp (5-6). The Reds were going with John Tsitouris (5-5).

Tsitouris won his last two starts in fine fashion by beating the Pirates 6-2 and the Cardinals 4-1. Earlier in the season, he made one start against the Phillies and was knocked out after four innings in an 11-3 loss.

Ray Culp won four of his last five starts:

Beating the Mets twice.
Beating the Cubs and Dodgers once each.
While losing to the Cardinals.

This was his first outing against the Reds.

There was no score through an inning-and-a-half.

With two outs in the bottom of the second, Clay Dalrymple hit his third home run of the year to put the Phillies on top 1-0.

There was no scoring in the third inning.

In the top of the fourth, Johnny Edwards tied the score 1-1 with his fifth home run.

Tsitouris blanked the Phils in the bottom of the fourth.

In the top of the fifth, Pete Rose led off with a single and moved to second when Marty Keough walked.

Vada Pinson then hit a ground ball to first. John Herrnstein fielded the ball and went for the double-play. Keough was out at second, but Pinson beat the relay to first while Pete Rose moved to third.

With runners on first and third and one out, Frank Robinson hit a sacrifice fly to put the Reds ahead 2-1.

Nothing in the bottom of the fifth or top of the sixth.

Tony Gonzalez drew a walk leading off the bottom of the sixth, moved to second on a sacrifice by John Herrnstein, and advanced to third on a wild pitch with Johnny Callison batting.

After Callison walked to put runners on first and third with one out, Richie Allen singled and Gonzalez scored to tie the game 2-2. Callison stopped at second which made it first and second and still one out.

Wes Covington singled and Callison scored make it 3-2. Allen moved to third. Then Clay Dalrymple singled and Allen scored to make it 4-2 Phillies.

In the top of the seventh, Pete Rose drew a walk. After Marty Keough and Vada Pinson struck out, Frank Robinson hit a ground ball to third that should’ve ended the inning. But Richie Allen couldn’t handle it and the ball rolled into short left ─ Allen’s 13th error. Rose advanced to third and Robinson reached second with two outs.

Deron Johnson singled and Pete Rose scored to trim the Phillies lead to 4-3. Frank Robinson also tried to score, but Johnny Callison threw him out at the plate.

In the bottom of the seventh, Johnny Briggs batted for Ray Culp.

In the top of the eighth, Jack Baldschun (3-3) replaced Culp.

Baldschun gave up a single in the eighth, and walked a batter in the ninth, but he held the Reds off the scoreboard to pick up his eighth save.

Ray Culp (6-6) got the win and John Tsitouris (5-6) took the loss.

Jack Sanford Placed on DL

The Giants were playing the third game of a five-game series with the Cubs at Wrigley Field with Jack Sanford (5-7) on the mound. In his last start five days earlier, against the Phillies, Sanford had to be removed after five innings, complaining of a twinge in his pitching arm, while holding a 2-1 edge. The Phils went on to win that game 5-2 in 11 innings with Gaylord Perry (6-4) taking the loss in relief.

So today’s outing was a shake-down cruise to test Sanford’s arm. But the test didn’t go well.

Sanford was lifted with two outs in the bottom of second while holding a 3-0 lead.

The Giants wound up beating the Cubs 9-4 behind two-run home runs off the bats of Willie Mays (#25) and Willie McCoyey (#12) and a strong seven-inning relief job by Gaylord Perry (7-4).

The win allowed the Giants to keep pace with the Phillies 1½ games back.