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The 1957 Memorial Day Plane Crash in Northeast Minneapolis (with Dave Edholm) · Hangin' Out with Bob

0:07
Okay, “Welcome to Hangin’ Out with Bob,” a podcast
0:10
hosted by me, Bob Edholm. Thanks for joining
0:19
us. And let's get started. You know, since I
0:29
started making these podcasts in September of
0:31
2024, I've learned that I really enjoy taking
0:34
“deep dives” into various topics. Part of it is
0:37
curiosity. Another part of it is the thrill of
0:41
discovery, finding forgotten facts or little
0:43
known anecdotes. And yet another part of it is
0:46
just the satisfaction I get from sharing with
0:49
others the things that I find interesting or
0:51
fascinating. And in this podcast episode, I've
0:55
taken another “deep dive” to learn about a plane
0:57
Crash—yes, a plane crash—that happened in Northeast
1:01
Minneapolis way back on May 30th, 1957, Memorial
1:06
Day. Joining me to talk about that Memorial Day
1:09
plane crash in 1957 is my brother, Dave Edholm.
1:13
Dave, welcome back to “Hangin’ Out with Bob.” Thanks
1:15
for having me, Bob. If you've listened to some
1:23
of my previous podcast episodes, you've heard
1:26
Dave and I, along with our brother, Tom Edholm,
1:29
talk about growing up in the 1960s and 70s in
1:32
Columbia Heights, Minnesota, as well as episodes
1:34
we've recorded about the Minnesota Gophers and
1:37
Vikings football teams. But why a podcast about
1:40
a plane crash? Well, because before Dave and
1:44
I moved up to the Heights in the summer of 1962,
1:47
we lived in that neighborhood in Northeast Minneapolis
1:49
where the plane crash occurred. Yep. Dave and
1:53
I were there when it happened. So again, Dave,
1:55
thanks for joining me. Yes. A quick geography
2:06
lesson, and maybe a quick history lesson, too,
2:08
about Northeast Minneapolis. A significant portion
2:12
of Northeast Minneapolis streets that run north
2:14
and south are named after U .S. Presidents, starting
2:17
with Washington Street, for example, and following
2:20
in chronological order. Now, in the part of Northeast
2:24
Minneapolis where Dave and I lived with our mom
2:26
and dad in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the
2:30
street names were, for example, Fillmore, followed
2:33
by Pierce, followed by Buchanan, then Lincoln,
2:39
then Johnson, and so on. And Dave, a quick round
2:42
of questions for you. Can you give me the first
2:45
names of those five U.S. Presidents I just named?
2:48
Let's start with Fillmore. I think that was Millard.
2:51
Millard, yep. Franklin Pierce. Yep. James Buchanan.
2:55
Yep. And Lincoln. Yeah, Abe Lincoln. Yep, and
3:00
Johnson. Andrew Johnson. Very good, very good.
3:02
All right. Of course, Dave and I were just little
3:10
kids on May 30th, 1957. I had just turned four
3:13
years old the month before, in April, and Dave
3:16
was two and a half years old. We lived on Buchanan
3:19
Street, just a block away from the site of the
3:21
crash. And as I mentioned a moment ago, the both
3:25
of us were there when the crash happened, playing
3:27
outside in the backyard of our house. On the
3:30
swing set, right Dave? Right. Just a block away
3:34
from the plane crash. Well Bob, it sounds like
3:43
you've obviously spent a lot of time researching
3:46
this topic, the Memorial Day plane crash in Northeast.
3:50
Why don't you set the stage for what was going
3:52
on that day? Again, this was Memorial Day, May
3:56
30th, 1957. Yep, yep, like you said, Dave, it
3:59
was Memorial Day, and it was a Thursday. See,
4:03
before 1971, when the Memorial Day holiday was
4:06
permanently changed to the last Monday of May,
4:09
which then gave federal employees that nice three
4:11
-day weekend, Memorial Day had always been held
4:14
on May 30th, regardless of the day of the week.
4:17
And in 1957, as it is now, Memorial Day was a
4:21
day to honor the fallen service members of the
4:23
U.S. military. Many people would mark the day
4:26
with special ceremonies like placing American
4:29
flags or flowers or both on the graves of veterans
4:33
at cemeteries. St. Clement, our parish then,
4:37
had a daily Mass that morning. Some people might
4:39
attend a Memorial Day parade if there was one
4:41
nearby. And Memorial Day also included things
4:45
like cookouts, there were barbecues, picnics,
4:48
and getting together with friends or family.
4:51
And for some people, it was just a time to relax
4:53
and enjoy the day off. For school-age kids,
4:56
they met no school that day, so they could play
4:58
outside with their friends. And on that Memorial
5:02
Day in 1957, at the Sunset Memorial Cemetery,
5:06
which is just a couple miles straight east of
5:08
the part of Northeast Minneapolis where Dave
5:10
and I lived, there was a ceremony to be held,
5:13
during which four U.S. Navy fighter jets were
5:16
to fly over the cemetery in an aerial salute
5:19
to the war dead. Navy fighter jets had been conducting
5:23
these Memorial Day flights over Twin Cities Cemetery
5:26
for many years prior to May 30, 1957, so it was
5:30
a tradition. So Bob, what was it that happened
5:40
on that particular aerial salute on May 30th,
5:45
1957? What made that Memorial Day celebration
5:48
certainly unique from all the others before then?
5:53
Well, Dave, looking it up on the Star Tribune
5:55
Archive, which is an online historical storehouse
5:59
of the Minnesota Star Tribune newspaper, and
6:01
its predecessor papers, the Minneapolis Tribune
6:04
and the Minneapolis Star, I found all kinds of
6:07
information on that particular aerial salute.
6:10
Like I said, four U.S. Navy fighter jets were
6:13
to fly over Sunset Memorial Cemetery as part
6:16
of a traditional Memorial Day ceremony. Typically,
6:20
most of those Memorial Day ceremonies began in
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the late morning, between 10 o'clock and 11
6:25
o'clock. Unfortunately and tragically, on this
6:29
Memorial Day, two of those four jet planes collided
6:33
in midair over northeast Minneapolis and crashed.
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One of the pilots was killed and nine civilians
6:49
in the ground were injured. The pilot of the
6:51
second plane was able to parachute to safety,
6:54
and Dave thousands of people actually witnessed
6:58
that midair collision, including more than a
7:00
thousand who were at Sunset Memorial Cemetery
7:03
for the ceremony, including then Minnesota Governor
7:06
Orville Freeman and Captain Frank Gill, who was
7:10
a then station commander of the Naval Air Station
7:13
based in Minneapolis. Can you imagine that, Dave?
7:16
Imagine you're among the people attending that
7:19
ceremony at the cemetery, looking up at a clear
7:22
blue sky as the planes flew over. something the
7:25
U.S. Navy had been doing for years, but then seeing
7:28
two of those Navy fighter jets collide in midair.
7:32
Terrifying, right? Very terrifying. So you said
7:43
you checked out the Minneapolis Tribune archives.
7:46
What specific information did they give you about
7:50
the two pilots who happened to collide midair?
7:53
Well, the Minneapolis Tribune and the Minneapolis
7:56
Star—remember, there actually was a time when
7:58
Minneapolis had two daily newspapers, the Tribune
8:01
in the morning and the Star in the evening. Both
8:04
did an excellent job of covering the crash. Lots
8:07
of stories and photos over several pages of each
8:10
of those newspapers. The pilot who was killed
8:13
was Commander Newell Olson, with Newell spelled
8:16
N-E-W-E-L-L, Newell Olson. He was born in
8:21
Wilmer, Minnesota, but raised in St. Paul. The
8:24
newspapers reported that Commander Olson was
8:26
a tall man, about six foot four, hence his nickname
8:30
was “Big Ole.” He was 38 years old, a veteran pilot,
8:35
and he was also the liaison officer at that naval
8:38
air station located at the Minneapolis airport.
8:41
And a quick aside, Dave. Do you remember the
8:43
name of our airport here before it was known
8:45
as Minneapolis St. Paul International? I actually
8:47
do. It was called Wold Chamberlain. Who Wold
8:51
was and who Chamberlain were, I have no idea.
8:53
That's what it was called. You're right. It was
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Wold Chamberlain Field. And they were actually
9:03
named, it was actually named to honor two local
9:06
World War I pilots, Ernest Wold and Cyrus Chamberlain.
9:11
I mean, when I was little, I thought it was Wilt
9:13
Chamberlain Field. But again, that's because
9:16
we were little then. And I bring it up because
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that's how the stories in newspapers then referred
9:20
to the airport, Wold Chamberlain. The pilot of
9:23
the second plane that crashed was Lieutenant
9:25
John Forsmark, who lived in South Minneapolis.
9:28
He was 26 years old. And as I mentioned a moment
9:31
ago, he parachuted to safety. By the way, the
9:35
two other pilots in that four-jet formation who
9:38
were following the planes that collided in midair
9:40
were, for the record, Lieutenant Milton Nordmeyer
9:44
and Lieutenant Robert Bjorge, with Bjorge spelled
9:47
B-J-O-R-G-E. Both men lived in Richfield.
9:51
Fortunately for those two men, they were not
9:53
involved in the midair collision. But because
9:56
all four of the planes were moving so quickly,
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I imagine both of those pilots must have been
10:01
just a little shaken afterward by what they had
10:03
witnessed in midair, don't you think? For sure.
10:13
So Bob, talk about the exact location where the
10:16
two planes ended up actually crashing. The Minneapolis
10:19
Tribune reported that Commander Olson's plane
10:22
crashed into a parked car in front of the house
10:25
located at 1950 Pierce Street Northeast and
10:28
set four houses on fire. As I mentioned earlier,
10:32
nine civilians, ranging in age from a toddler
10:35
boy to two 59-year -old men, were injured in
10:39
the crash and taken to Minneapolis General Hospital.
10:42
Five of those injured persons suffered burns,
10:45
and the other four persons were treated for such
10:47
things as smoke inhalation, shrapnel injuries,
10:51
and shock. Where was Commander Olson's body found
11:01
at the site of the crash? Poor man. The Tribune
11:05
reported that Commander Olson tried to eject
11:07
safely, but his parachute snagged in the tree
11:10
near the crash site. and his lifeless body was
11:13
still hanging from the parachute. Can you imagine
11:16
seeing that, Dave? And regarding Lieutenant Forsmark,
11:20
the other pilot involved in the crash, his plane
11:23
plummeted into an open field near the Aaron Carlson
11:26
Company, a woodworking business near 15th and
11:30
Central Avenues Northeast. The plane left a big
11:33
hole in the ground, as you can imagine. Three
11:36
fires broke out on the roof of the Aaron Carlson
11:38
building, but firemen extinguished them quickly.
11:41
One employee at Aaron Carlson, according to the
11:44
Tribune, narrowly missed getting struck by a
11:46
part of the plane's landing gear. And a portion
11:50
of the plane's tail section came to rest against
11:52
the building itself. Where exactly is the Aaron
12:03
Carlson Company? What is it by? It was at 15th
12:08
and Central Avenues. 1505 Central, to be exact.
12:13
You've driven past 15th and Central Avenues a
12:15
million times, right? Right. When you're driving
12:17
north on Central Avenue from, say, Broadway Avenue,
12:21
as soon as you drive under the railroad overpass,
12:23
you take a right turn. And the crash occurred
12:26
in an open field behind the Aaron Carlson building.
12:30
That business is no longer there at 15th and
12:32
Central Avenues. In fact, the building itself
12:34
was destroyed in a massive four-alarm fire in
12:37
September of 2025. But you can still see the
12:40
large brick smokestack that says “Aaron Carlson.”
12:43
Oh, and remember Whirl Airflow? You worked there
12:47
for a while during your college years, right?
12:49
Which before that was the Alumacraft building.
12:53
That was at 1515 Central Avenue. So it was right
12:56
by there. And while the second crash, near 15th
13:00
and Central Avenues, happened in an open field,
13:03
it wasn't all that far from a nearby playground
13:05
where an estimated 150 to 200 children were playing.
13:10
And the Northeast Athletic Field, including the
13:12
baseball park at which you pitched over a half-
13:14
century ago, was also nearby. Fortunately for
13:18
Lieutenant Forsmark, the pilot of that second
13:21
plane, He was uninjured except for slight burns
13:24
as he was ejected from his flaming aircraft.
13:28
Where did he land? He parachuted to safety, thank
13:31
goodness, but his chute had to be cut from the
13:33
trees in which it was tangled to rescue him.
13:36
He landed on his feet at the intersection of
13:39
Johnson Street and 19th Avenue, 11 blocks away
13:43
from where his plane had crashed, but just two
13:45
blocks east of where Commander Olson's plane
13:47
had crashed. Now Dave, you and I have driven
13:50
up and down the intersection of Johnson Street
13:52
and 19th Avenue at least several hundreds of
13:55
times in our lives, right? Right. Now today, at
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each corner of that intersection, Johnson and
14:00
19th, there's a convenience store and a gas station
14:03
at the southeast corner, a Domino's carry -out
14:07
and delivery store as well as a floral shop at
14:09
the northeast corner, an organic mattress store
14:13
at the northwest corner across the street from
14:15
Domino's and their floral shop. and a two-story
14:18
upstairs-downstairs duplex residence at the
14:21
southwest corner across the street from the convenience
14:23
store and gas station. And back then, way back
14:27
then, I believe there were a couple of gas stations
14:29
at the northeast and southeast corners of the
14:32
intersection. I can remember Dad getting gas
14:33
at the Standard Oil gas station. The two-story
14:38
residence was already there. It's been there
14:40
for decades, that duplex. And what's now the organic
14:43
mattress store might have been something like
14:45
a corner “mom and pop” store, I guess. I don't
14:48
remember exactly what it was then. But anyway,
14:51
Dave, imagine if you lived near that intersection,
14:54
Johnson and 19th, on that morning in 1957, and
14:58
you saw a pilot parachute to that location. Wow.
15:01
He landed on his feet. Fortunately, he didn't
15:04
smash into the side of a house or building or
15:06
in what today is a very high-traffic area, get
15:09
hit by a car or truck on the street. Or a bus.
15:13
Buses used to run on Johnson. Yeah, Johnson,
15:15
yep. And according to the Minneapolis Tribune,
15:18
Lieutenant Forsmark, once he had landed safely,
15:21
told the civilians he checked on him that he
15:23
was okay, that he needed to get to a telephone.
15:26
He said he wanted to call his wife to let her
15:28
know he was okay. Wow. Then he reported to the
15:31
Naval Air Station. And a civilian drove into
15:34
the airport. You need a ride? Yeah, okay. Where
15:37
he underwent a quick physical examination and
15:40
the first of what would be a long series of interviews
15:42
with naval investigations officers. Did any of
15:52
your research in the Star Tribune actually explain
15:55
what actually happened to cause that mid -air
15:58
collision? Well, according to reports in the
16:00
Minneapolis Tribune, later that same day, Thursday,
16:04
Lieutenant Forsmark stated at a news conference
16:06
that he really didn't know how the crash happened.
16:09
He said the left wing of his plane hit Commander
16:12
Olson's plane, the fuselage, as the two jets
16:16
began to execute this rolling maneuver. But they
16:19
were going 330 miles per hour. And at the news
16:23
conference, Lieutenant Forsmark said that when
16:26
the left wing of his plane hit Commander Olson's
16:29
fuselage, It happened in, quote, “one -fiftieth
16:31
of a second.” And then both planes burst into
16:36
flames. Forsmark said he pulled his ejection
16:39
handles and shot up into the free air. He was
16:44
fully conscious, but he began tumbling downward
16:47
toward the onrushing ground. He pulled the ripcord
16:50
on his parachute while upside down and then saw
16:54
this billowing cloth fill out above him. The
16:56
parachute opened. And like I mentioned before,
16:59
he was fortunate. He landed on his feet. The
17:02
two other pilots in the jet formation, again,
17:04
they were Lieutenants Milton Nordmeyer and Robert
17:07
Bjorge, who joined Lieutenant Forsmark at
17:09
that same news conference—I guess they were
17:11
still in their air clothes. They didn't even
17:15
change into street clothes. They stated that
17:17
Commander Olson had given an order to, quote,
17:19
“roll left” as they completed their second flyover
17:22
over the cemetery. Now, according to Captain Gill—
17:25
again he was the naval air station commander—
17:28
he estimated that the formation had passed the
17:31
cemetery flying east to west at an altitude of
17:34
about 1500 feet and was beginning to gain more
17:38
height as the planes prepared to leave for another
17:41
ceremonial mission at Lake Calhoun in Southwest
17:43
Minneapolis. In other words, had nothing terrible
17:46
happened as the four planes were leaving their
17:48
aerial salute over the Sunset Memorial Cemetery,
17:52
they would have done a similar aerial salute over in
17:54
Southwest Minneapolis, which, traveling at 300
17:57
-plus miles per hour, they would have been there
17:59
in seconds. So back to the crash scene in Northeast
18:11
Minneapolis, Bob, near 22nd and Pierce. How did
18:16
the Minneapolis Tribune describe what happened
18:19
when Commander Olson's plane crashed into the
18:21
parked car on Pierce Street in the immediate
18:25
aftermath? Well, Dave, as I mentioned earlier,
18:28
we lived in that neighborhood. We heard the sound
18:31
of the plane as it plummeted to earth. We heard
18:34
the crash, the explosion. And we saw the massive
18:45
fireball as it rose above the rooftops and treetops,
18:49
but we didn't see the crash itself. Oh, and I
18:52
wanted to clarify something. When you get to
18:54
the very end of the houses on the 1900 block
18:57
of Pierce or Fillmore or Buchanan Streets, you're
19:00
suddenly at 22nd Avenue, okay? There's no 20th
19:03
or 21st Avenues there. Don't know why, but that's
19:06
just how it is. Well, and the blocks seem to
19:08
be a lot shorter back then, too. I don't know.
19:12
I've never measured how long they were, but I
19:15
just remember the blocks being maybe a little
19:18
shorter. Because I remember when I first was
19:20
saying, OK, 22nd and Pierce Street. And I go,
19:23
all of a sudden it's 1950 and you're at 2200. Anyway,
19:27
who the cartographers were, but that's how it
19:29
laid out. I also want to emphasize that the area
19:32
near Pierce Street and 22nd Avenue was a densely
19:36
populated working-class type of neighborhood.
19:39
And as the Minneapolis Tribune reported, as soon
19:41
as Commander Olson's plane plummeted and crashed
19:44
into the parked car on Pierce Street, the area
19:47
turned into a scene of flaming jet fuel, burning
19:50
houses, and screaming children who were nearby.
19:54
Then came the noisy, siren-blasting emergency
19:57
vehicles, fire trucks, ambulances, and police
20:00
cars. All available fire equipment was rushed
20:04
to the scene of the crash, and fortunately, the
20:07
fire station at 27th and Johnson Street was close
20:09
by, so they got there right away, and the blaze
20:12
was actually brought under control in a relatively
20:14
short time. But it was still chaotic. The crashed
20:18
plane had dug a hole in front of 1950 Pierce
20:21
Street, shoving a parked car up against a house
20:24
and then demolishing the car and damaging two
20:27
other cars as it bounced to a halt. Police, fire,
20:30
and newspaper switchboards were jammed with reports
20:33
of airplane parts falling at various locations.
20:44
So I'm sure the newspapers, radio, TV stations,
20:47
etc., interviewed lots of people in the neighborhood
20:50
about the crash. What did some of those eyewitnesses
20:53
have to say? There were lots. I mean, it must
20:57
have been 15 or 20 people that were quoted even
21:01
in the newspapers. I'll give you a couple examples.
21:05
One example. There was a man who lived upstairs
21:08
in a two-story duplex on Pierce Street. He told
21:11
the Tribune that he had thought his garage would
21:14
be a much safer place than the highways on the
21:16
holiday. So he was polishing his car in the garage,
21:19
when suddenly he heard the sound of a roaring
21:21
jet plane. He looked up and saw that it appeared
21:24
as if he was coming right at him. And he thought,
21:26
well, anyway, when the jet smashed into the parked
21:31
car in the street just a couple of houses away,
21:33
he ran out front to see what was going on. So
21:36
this man, who was polishing his car just moments
21:38
before the crash, helped two other men carry
21:41
Commander Olson's lifeless body out of the street
21:44
away from the flames. Can you imagine? Another
21:49
eyewitness. There was a woman who lived in the
21:52
house just north of the house where the car parked
21:54
in the street was hit by the plane. She was in
21:56
the kitchen, ironing. Her husband had left at
21:59
5 a.m. that morning for his milk delivery route.
22:02
He was with Clover Leaf Dairy. Remember Clover Leaf
22:04
Dairy? Yes. And he was a milkman. A milkman.
22:07
Tell people today, kids today, what milkmen were.
22:09
Right. There weren't any milkwomen. No, just
22:11
guys, you know. And that's where he was that
22:13
morning while she was ironing. Anyway, as that
22:16
woman was ironing in her kitchen and heard the
22:18
loud jet noise, she opened the door from her
22:21
kitchen to the dining room and said there were
22:23
flames shooting across the ceiling. She ran out
22:27
back shouting “Fire!” and hurried around the house
22:30
and saw the pilot's parachute hanging in the
22:32
tree in front of the neighbor's house. She said
22:35
she thought it was an atomic bomb attack. Now
22:37
remember this was 1957. The Cold War with the
22:40
Soviets was just starting to heat up. The woman
22:43
then saw the neighbor lady who lived upstairs
22:45
from them run down the stairs carrying her two
22:48
-month-old baby. The woman's husband, still
22:51
wearing his pajamas, followed her and her baby
22:54
down the stairs. Fortunately, they weren't injured.
22:57
And another example. There was a man who lived
23:00
on Fillmore Street, which is across the alley
23:02
from Pierce Street. He said he was sleeping late
23:04
that morning because of his midnight to 8 a.m.
23:07
shift as a mechanic for Braniff Airways. His
23:10
two-year-old boy was playing in his stroller
23:12
when the engine from the crashing jet plane struck
23:15
in the yard not 15 feet away from the little
23:18
boy. With that little boy was his four-year
23:21
-old sister who was playing nearby. Both children
23:24
were treated at General Hospital for shock and
23:27
minor injuries. The man's wife and the children's
23:30
mother was also treated at General Hospital for
23:33
shock. But debris was scattered all about that
23:37
area where the two children had been at play.
23:39
The one home at 1950 Peer Street was reportedly
23:42
destroyed. The other three homes that took the
23:45
brunt of the crash were also heavily damaged.
23:49
And another important fact, Dave, the Tribune
23:51
reported that throughout the day, literally thousands
23:54
of spectators watched debris being hauled away
23:57
from that area and were asking a million questions
24:00
about what happened as they stared at the blackened
24:02
homes. Again, we were really little kids. So
24:06
I don't remember if like maybe Dad walked up
24:08
to the scene in that plane crash. Do you remember
24:11
him talking about that to us as we got older?
24:14
I don't. The only thing that I remember and we
24:17
had discussed this the other day is the fact
24:19
that there were it seemed hundreds, perhaps even
24:22
Thousands, of people that walked on the side were
24:25
walking on the sidewalk to see the crash site.
24:28
Yeah. They for some reason I don't know if Pierce
24:31
was blocked off or if but they were walking actually
24:34
down Buchanan, and I remember just seeing crowds,
24:39
and not crowds of people walking across your
24:42
yard, but just everybody was on the sidewalk,
24:44
but the sidewalk was packed with people. I should
24:48
note, as Dave is telling us, he was two and a
24:50
half years old at the time and he remembers that.
24:52
It's just pretty amazing. First memory. As
25:04
tragic and traumatic as that plane crash was
25:07
in 1957, were there other air disasters in Minneapolis
25:11
before then? Yep, unfortunately there were, Dave.
25:14
In my research, I found that in the years 1950
25:17
through 1956, several planes had crashed in Minneapolis.
25:21
For example, on March 7th, 1950, there was a powerful
25:25
snowstorm in the Twin Cities. A Northwest Orient
25:29
Airlines passenger plane collided with a flagpole
25:32
at Fort Snelling while it was trying to land.
25:35
With the left wing damaged, the plane circled
25:38
back around to try another attempt at landing,
25:41
but it smashed into a home off Minnehaha Parkway
25:43
in South Minneapolis. All 10 passengers and three
25:47
crew members were killed, as were two children
25:50
on the ground who were crushed to death in their
25:53
sleep by the falling airplane. And in 1956,
25:57
a pair of military aircraft disasters, only days
26:00
apart, crashed in Minneapolis. On June 5th, 1956,
26:05
a Navy fighter jet went down, crashing into a
26:08
car on the highway near the airport and killing
26:11
a mother and child bound for what was then the
26:14
new Metropolitan Stadium. Wow. The pilots were
26:18
able to eject safely. Then, just four days later,
26:21
on June 9th, 1956, another Navy jet fighter plane,
26:26
fully loaded with ordnance, missiles, rockets,
26:29
whatever, fell out of formation and crash-landed
26:32
across three houses on 46th Avenue in South Minneapolis.
26:37
This caused an enormous explosion and killed
26:39
the pilot and six people on the ground. I imagine
26:42
most of them were kids, too. So yeah, it was bad
26:45
in the 1950s in Minneapolis as far as air disasters
26:49
go. So back to the 1957 Memorial Day crash, was
27:01
there any kind of a government or congressional
27:04
investigation into the plane crash? There must
27:06
have been some kind of official inquiry. Right.
27:09
There was no official congressional investigation
27:12
into the crash, but the Navy did investigate.
27:15
It was called the Navy Board of Inquiry. It didn't
27:18
publicly assign blame to any single individual,
27:21
but they officially classified the mid-air collision
27:24
as, quote, “a tragic accident.” The investigation
27:28
board concluded that the collision was a mid
27:31
-air maneuvering error caused by conditions of
27:34
the flight path. The other conclusions drawn
27:37
from the investigation by the Navy Board of Inquiry
27:40
included, one, that Commander Newell Olson whose
27:44
jet crashed into a parked car near the corner
27:47
of 22nd Avenue and Pierce Street was killed when
27:49
his parachute failed to deploy after he was forced
27:52
to eject at a critically low altitude. Two, that
27:57
the pilot of the second disabled jet, Lieutenant
27:59
John Forsmark, managed to bail out safely with
28:03
his aircraft plunging into a vacant lot five
28:05
blocks away from the site at 22nd Avenue and
28:08
Pierce Street. Three, that the disaster left several
28:12
residents injured, including six people on the
28:14
ground, who were injured by flying debris and
28:17
burns. And four, that Commander Olson's falling
28:21
jet demolished a parked car and set four houses
28:24
on fire. Fortunately, no civilians were killed
28:27
in the incident. Although you took the “deep dive”
28:37
into this plane crash in 1957, were there things
28:41
about the incident that you were not able to
28:43
find that still remain questions for you? Yep,
28:46
there were. For example, I haven't been able
28:48
to find out what became of the pilot who survived
28:51
the plane crash, Lieutenant John Forsmark. We
28:54
knew a family named Forsmark in Columbia
28:55
Heights. I wonder if there's any relation. I
28:57
don't know. Anyway, Lieutenant Forrest Mark was
28:59
26 at the time of the crash. And even though
29:02
he was 12 years younger than Commander Olson,
29:05
he was no rookie pilot. Lieutenant Forsmark
29:08
had four years in active service and two more
29:10
in the reserve at the time of that crash. The
29:13
Tribune reported that he had flown 775 hours
29:17
in jet planes, the equivalent of more than 200
29:20
separate flights. But what I wanted to find out
29:23
was what happened to him after that collision.
29:25
Was he assigned to a different naval air station
29:28
after what happened in Minneapolis? Did he stay
29:30
in Minneapolis after he retired? Anyway, Lieutenant
29:34
Forsmark would be 95 or so if he's still alive.
29:38
I also haven't been able to find out what happened
29:39
to the other two pilots who were part of that
29:41
Four-jet group that did the flyover. They were
29:44
Lieutenants Milton Nordmeyer and Robert Bjorge.
29:47
After the collision, did either of them experience
29:50
survivor's guilt? You know, why them and not
29:52
us? And again, those two pilots would also be
29:55
in their 90s at least, if they're still alive.
29:58
And I'm also a little surprised that I couldn't
30:00
find in the Star Tribune Archive any kind of
30:03
follow-up stories to the 1957 Memorial Day crash.
30:07
I thought I would see something commemorating,
30:09
say, the one-year anniversary of the crash,
30:11
or five-year anniversary, or ten-year anniversary,
30:14
but I didn't find it. Maybe it's because there
30:17
was only one death, the pilot, Commander Olson.
30:19
No civilians were killed, fortunately. And I
30:22
also wonder if this incident, this air disaster,
30:26
is or was ever taught to students in the Minneapolis
30:28
schools, particularly around Memorial Day each
30:31
year. Now, you were a teacher, Dave. Had you
30:34
been a teacher in Minneapolis, do you think you
30:36
might have talked about that incident to your
30:38
students? Because you were there. You were literally
30:40
in the neighborhood. For sure. When the crash
30:42
happened. Maybe not talk about it to second-grade
30:44
kids, but especially middle school or high school.
30:46
I think I actually did share that with some students.
30:50
Oh, OK. You know, when I taught fourth and fifth.
30:52
And you taught in the Anoka-North Hennepin district for
30:54
42 years, right? Yeah. OK. But you did tell them
30:57
about that. OK. Yeah. One thing that I'd be curious
31:00
to find out, I don't know how you would ever do
31:02
it, but because you and I witnessed a plane crash
31:05
at such young ages, I was two and a half, you
31:07
were what, four? Yeah. And there was, you talked
31:10
about these kids that actually had the debris
31:13
from the plane like 15 feet from them. We were
31:16
probably 100 yards away. It still was very traumatic.
31:20
I can't imagine what they must have... It would
31:23
be interesting if they're still around. It'd
31:25
be interesting to find out if they have any memories
31:28
of it, where they lived. Did they graduate from
31:31
Edison High School? If I can ever find some people
31:35
that were there, and if they're still around,
31:36
I'd love to talk to them. I think that would
31:38
be fascinating. I'd love to do a follow up. Besides
31:49
the newspaper articles you've cited, what were
31:52
you able to read online and where else were you
31:55
able to find any information about this plane
31:57
crash? Well, the majority of my information did
32:00
come from the Star Tribune Archives, but in MinnPost...
32:04
Have you ever heard of MinnPost? MinnPost is an
32:08
independent, non-profit, online news organization
32:11
based in Minneapolis. I found an excellent article
32:13
from August 2016 written by Andy Sturdevant entitled,
32:18
“Remembering the Twin Cities’ four aviation disasters
32:20
in the 1950s,” which included the crash in Northeast
32:24
Minneapolis. And I also found helpful information
32:27
from a book entitled “Roots and Ties: A Scrapbook
32:30
of Northeast Memories,” by Genny Zak Kieley. Her
32:33
book came out in 2003. I've checked it out from
32:36
the Columbia Heights Public Library, and it includes
32:39
a chapter on the 1957 Memorial (Day) plane crash. I'm
32:43
holding up the book and showing it to Dave as
32:45
we speak. I think Mom and Dad had a copy of this
32:47
book, didn't they? Yes. Do we still have that?
32:50
We do. Oh, you do? OK, great. But that was helpful
32:53
that she referenced that plane crash. And she
32:57
included a photo that was probably from the Minneapolis
32:59
Tribune in her book. But those resources, the
33:03
Star Tribune Archive, the MinnPost article,
33:05
and the book about Northeast Minneapolis by Genny
33:08
Zak Kieley were really helpful. Do you have any
33:18
idea why there, or what some of the reasons are,
33:21
why there isn't more information available on
33:24
that plane crash? The one in 57? In 57. Yeah, the
33:27
Memorial Day crash. Well, I can think of few, maybe
33:30
a few reasons why this might be so. One, that 1957
33:35
Memorial Day crash was kind of overshadowed by
33:38
the 1956 disasters. Remember, that's where they
33:40
had two of them four days apart. And they happened
33:44
in South Minneapolis. And those incidents resulted
33:47
in heavy civilian casualties, unlike the one
33:49
in Northeast. And so that might explain why they
33:53
generated more coverage. Two, just the fact that
33:57
there were fewer civilian casualties in the Northeast
34:00
Minneapolis air disaster. Although Commander
34:03
Olson was killed when his plane crashed, no civilians
34:06
in the ground were killed. The lack of mass civilian
34:09
casualties likely resulted in less long -term
34:12
media coverage. In fact, there was a headline
34:14
in the Minneapolis Star on May 30th, you know,
34:17
the afternoon of that crash, with a big headline
34:20
that said, “Miracle on Pierce Street,” because
34:23
only one person was killed. I mean, considering
34:25
the debris and the homes and that stuff, you'd
34:28
think there could have been, you know, dozens
34:30
or more. And three, there was political fallout
34:35
over these flyovers, these aerial salutes. As
34:38
it turned out, the Northeast crash caused immediate
34:41
political friction rather than long-term historical
34:44
storytelling. For example, then-Minnesota Senator
34:47
Hubert H. Humphrey took to the US Senate floor
34:50
the day after the 1957 crash, and heavily criticized
34:54
the military for running, quote, “hazardous low
34:57
altitude flyovers” over heavy populated areas.
35:01
And also, in 1957, there were no social media
35:06
or instant nonstop news outlets like there are
35:09
now. Can you imagine if smartphones had been
35:12
available then? Because there were literally
35:15
thousands of people who were at the crash site. There
35:17
was a picture in the map of Star that showed
35:20
the crowd on Pierce Street. They just completely
35:23
filled the street. It looked like Times Square
35:25
on New Year's Eve. And what if they'd all had
35:27
phones? I mean, oh, it would have been, you know.
35:30
There'd be 100,000 photos. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah,
35:33
so. What were some of the long-term effects
35:43
of that plane crash, if any? I didn't mention
35:46
this earlier, but according to the Minneapolis
35:48
Tribune, after the midair collision and crash
35:50
that occurred on Memorial Day, Captain Gill—
35:53
again, he was a Naval Air Station commander who
35:56
was at the cemetery and saw those planes collide
35:58
Midair— he immediately issued an order banning
36:02
further ceremonial flights by officers under
36:04
his command. And the long-term effects? Well,
36:08
there have been no more aerial flyover salutes
36:11
held on a Memorial Day since that tragic day in
36:13
1957. In fact, that collision, combined with
36:17
the deadly jet crashes in Minneapolis just a
36:19
year before, led to a massive public outcry.
36:22
And as a result, officials banned low-level,
36:25
high-risk military demonstrations over the Twin
36:28
Cities metro area. Today, in fact, the Federal
36:31
Aviation Administration, the FAA, and the military
36:35
branches now enforce strict altitude restrictions
36:38
over populated areas. And the Air Force permanently
36:41
ended hazardous low-altitude buzzing or stunt
36:44
flyovers in the Twin Cities as a result of those
36:47
deadly crashes in the 1950s. I find it ironic,
36:51
though, because there's military flyovers constantly
36:54
for sporting events today. I'm sure, like you
36:57
Said, there's the altitude restrictions. You think
37:01
about the paratroopers that come in and land
37:03
on like the 50-yard line. When's somebody going
37:06
to crash into the second deck? That still makes
37:09
me nervous when that stuff happens, because I
37:11
do think of stuff like that. For sure. But you're
37:14
right. That's a good point. They've outlawed
37:16
or banned, you know, Memorial Day stuff, flowers.
37:19
But, you know, for sporting events, you still
37:20
see that. Oh, yes. So there's always, there's
37:23
always a little bit of risk in that. Let's go
37:33
Back, for a second, to the pilot who ended up dying
37:36
that day, Commander Newell Olson. How did this
37:40
Star Tribune cover his funeral? A good-sized
37:44
photo in the Minneapolis Tribune showed an honor
37:46
guard firing a last salute over the grave of
37:49
Commander Olson on Saturday, June 1st, 1957,
37:53
just two days after the event, as he was buried
37:56
in Fort Snelling National Cemetery. The photo
37:59
caption stated that a funeral Mass was held for
38:02
Commander Olson at St. Kevin's Catholic Church.
38:06
Some 450 people, both military and civilian,
38:09
attended. Interestingly, Dave, Commander Olson
38:13
had converted to the Catholic faith just a month
38:16
before that plane crashed. The caption also mentioned
38:20
that Commander Olson was survived by his wife,
38:22
her name is Joan, and their three children. The
38:25
Olsen son, Roger, had died a year before in infancy.
38:30
In fact, Commander Olsen was buried in Fort Snelling
38:32
beside the grave of his infant son, Roger. And
38:37
I do want to mention that at Sunset Memorial
38:39
Cemetery, again that's the cemetery just two
38:42
miles east of the crash site at 22nd Avenue and
38:44
Pierce Street Northeast, there's what they call
38:47
a Tower of Memories that includes a dedicated
38:49
plaque commemorating Commander Olsen. I'd like
38:53
to see that sometime. Oh, and just one more thing
38:57
I wanted to share from my research regarding
38:59
Commander Olson, “Big Ole.” The Tribune reported
39:02
that he flew on that Memorial Day because he
39:05
didn't want to have to ask any of his men to
39:07
work on Memorial Day. It was part of his job
39:10
as liaison officer to procure services for groups
39:13
who wanted flyovers on patriotic holidays. And
39:17
on that Memorial Day in 1957, he basically elected
39:20
himself. He'd been at the Naval Air Station hangar
39:23
since early that morning anyway after attending
39:26
the 6 a.m. Mass held at St. Kevin's, the same church,
39:29
where just two days later, a funeral Mass for
39:32
him would be held. Wow. Isn’t that somethin’? Yes. From
39:43
the information you've presented, it sounds like
39:45
the 50s were not the safest time for air travel
39:48
in Minneapolis. It's got to be a lot safer today
39:51
in the skies over Minneapolis-St. Paul than
39:54
it was in the 50s. Do you have any statistics?
39:57
Yes, definitely. It's estimated that Minneapolis
40:00
-St. Paul International Airport alone handles
40:03
an average of a thousand to twelve hundred total flights,
40:06
arrivals and departures, on any given day. Some
40:09
Days, it's a lot more, sure. Air travel though,
40:12
through the first quarter of the 21st century,
40:14
is safer than ever. And it's a testament to the
40:17
aviation industry that in the past six decades,
40:20
accidents like the 1957 Memorial Day mid -air collision
40:23
in Northeast Minneapolis have been largely unheard
40:26
of in the Twin Cities specifically and in the
40:29
United States generally. Although any one airplane
40:32
crash is one too many, right? Yes. I also remember,
40:37
I think it was the late 50s or early 60s. It
40:40
didn't happen in Minneapolis, but it happened
40:43
for a group of men that were playing basketball
40:45
in Minneapolis. The Lakers had a very close call.
40:49
I think that they had to set a plane down on
40:52
a cornfield or something. Yeah, I think it was
40:54
like in Iowa or someplace. Somewhere in Iowa.
40:56
And no, no question about it. Their travel back
40:59
then was much riskier, I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
41:03
You know, people today who live near the airport
41:05
might get annoyed at times with the seemingly
41:07
never-ending loud sound of planes arriving and
41:10
departing. But I imagine people living near the
41:13
airport back in 1956 or 1957 might have felt
41:17
even a small lingering sense of dread, maybe?
41:21
Every time you hear the plane, it's like, are
41:23
they going to land safely or are they going to
41:25
crash across the street? Kind of like all the
41:27
people in Shea Stadium near LaGuardia. They fly
41:31
like right there. It seems like they're flying
41:33
from center field over second base to home plate.
41:38
But you get used to it, I suppose. Yeah, well,
41:40
even Met Stadium could be noisy because that
41:42
was by the airport, wasn't it? Yeah. And for
41:45
me personally, Dave, for several weeks after
41:47
that Memorial Day plane crash in a neighborhood—
41:49
remember, I was four years old. Every time I
41:52
even heard a jet plane flying overhead, I ran
41:55
into the house crying, frightened, because I
41:56
thought it was going to crash, because it had
41:59
that same sound. For some reason, I don't remember
42:03
ever being frightened of planes after that, other
42:06
than the fact that I was very frightened during
42:08
the crash itself. And I was told that our dad
42:13
had to literally pry my hands off the glider
42:16
on the swing set. I remember... It still is a
42:22
vivid memory, seeing the fireball in the sky,
42:25
the noise. I mean, we were probably about a football
42:30
field's length away from the crash. Well, it
42:33
was in 1900 block. We were at 1906 Buchanan,
42:36
and this was like 1950 Pierce. 1950 Pierce, so
42:40
we were very close. Very close. Yeah. And I do
42:43
Remember, too, vividly that the sky was a bright
42:46
blue. It wasn't like, it wasn't like the sky.
42:49
Yeah. Not a cloud in the sky that it was just
42:51
a really nice morning until that occurred. Yep.
42:55
Yep. Why did you, what were your reasons, Bob,
43:04
for making a podcast episode about this plane
43:06
crash in Northeast Minneapolis? Well, basically,
43:09
there were two reasons. First reason. I wanted
43:12
to learn more about the crash. Yeah, we were
43:15
there when it happened, just a block away from
43:16
the house where we lived. We heard the plane
43:19
crash. We heard the explosion. We saw the fireball
43:21
in the sky. We heard the sirens. But in 1957,
43:25
we were just little boys. It would be another
43:28
year before I even started kindergarten, and
43:30
two years before you started school. It would
43:32
be another five and a half years before brother
43:34
Tom was even born. Our mom and dad were only
43:37
in their 20s at the time. And anyone who was
43:40
our folks' age and lived in Northeast Minneapolis
43:42
at that time and are still alive, well, they're
43:45
well into their 90s now. I wish Mom and Dad were
43:48
still around so I could have asked them about
43:49
their memories of the plane crash. And that's why
43:52
I'm grateful for sources like the Star Tribune
43:54
Archive, the MinnPost article about the aviation
43:57
disasters in the 50s, the book about Northeast
44:00
Minneapolis by Genny Zak Kieley that includes that
44:03
section about the crash. And even some comments
44:05
I read on a Facebook page for Northeast Minneapolis,
44:08
people that were sharing their memories, that
44:10
brought back a lot for me too. And thanks to
44:13
those sources, I did learn a lot more about the
44:15
crash. And the second reason I wanted to make
44:18
this podcast, well, because that Memorial Day
44:21
plane crash happened almost seventy years ago, I wanted
44:24
to share what I learned with others. And by others,
44:27
that can include, people who were little kids
44:29
like you and me, Dave, at the time of that crash,
44:32
who maybe even lived in Northeast Minneapolis.
44:34
Some of them may have been our classmates at
44:36
Whitney School, but they might not remember many
44:39
of the details because I didn't know many of
44:40
the details until I started researching it. Or
44:43
people who are transplants to the Twin Cities,
44:45
including many who live in Northeast Minneapolis
44:47
now. They've moved here from different parts
44:50
of the state, different parts of the country,
44:52
even different parts of the world, for that matter.
44:54
Many of them likely have never heard about the
44:56
plane crash. Or the Gen Xers, the Millennials,
44:59
and the Gen Zs. They certainly weren't around
45:02
in 1957. Unless maybe their parents or grandparents
45:05
had told them about the Memorial Day plane crash
45:08
70 years ago. They probably wouldn't know about
45:10
that crash either. And the final group is anyone
45:14
of any age who lives anywhere who would be interested
45:17
to learn about two jet fighter planes. colliding
45:20
and crashing, one in a densely populated neighborhood,
45:24
and the other in the vacant lot, but still close
45:26
to the park, packed with kids playing on a Memorial
45:29
Day holiday. So that's why I wanted to do this
45:31
podcast episode, Dave. I wanted to learn more
45:33
about the crash for myself, and then I wanted
45:35
to share what I had learned with others. Okay,
45:45
Dave, since you are my guest and I am your host,
45:48
I'm going to let you have the last word. Thanks
45:51
for being here, by the way, and thanks for your
45:52
questions. Now, based on what you remember from
45:56
or what you've heard about that plane crash nearly
45:58
seventy years ago, as well as some of the things we've
46:01
shared today, what will be your biggest takeaways
46:03
from all of this? Well a lot, I, you know, believe
46:07
it or not, there's still a lot of questions or,
46:10
you did a really good job of a “deep dive,” but
46:13
it would be very interesting to know the, the
46:16
story of the pilots, a little bit more, if you
46:19
think about 1957, World War II had ended 12 years
46:23
earlier The Korean War had entered, what, six or
46:27
seven years. It'd be interesting to know if some
46:30
of these guys ever fought, were pilots on missions
46:34
during those wars. They served during World War
46:37
II. Just out of natural curiosity, it would be
46:40
interesting to find out if Olson, the pilot that
46:43
died, you know, what happened to his family after
46:47
that. That would be interesting, but really,
46:50
really fun to actually learn about this stuff,
46:54
and fun to kind of revisit just Northeast Minneapolis
46:58
back then. As I said, I do remember the crowds
47:03
of people that were walking on the sidewalks.
47:06
Another thing that I found interesting was that
47:09
everybody stayed on the sidewalk. I remember
47:12
I was just a little kid, but I think Mom and
47:15
Dad even commented that the people were on the
47:18
sidewalk and you didn't walk across people's
47:20
lawns. We had very... kind of small front yards,
47:25
but I just remember everybody was on that sidewalk.
47:28
People weren't in the street, they were on the
47:31
sidewalk. But it was a really good place to grow
47:36
up back then. We've talked a little bit about
47:41
driving past the old neighborhood, and it's always
47:45
fun to revisit that. The other thing you had
47:48
mentioned about Johnson Street, and just how
47:50
times were so different. The bus line ran on
47:53
Johnson Street. I can recall when you were, I
47:57
think, a third grader and I was a second grader,
47:59
our grandpa putting us on a bus to actually go
48:03
to downtown Minneapolis. I don't know if it cost
48:05
a nickel or a dime, but when would you put, how
48:08
often would you put a seven and a nine-year-old
48:10
on a bus in Minneapolis? I don't know, maybe
48:13
people do it all the time. I don't know, but
48:15
it seems it was just a totally a different time.
48:18
It was, it was. Yeah, good point. You know, my
48:28
apartment here in Columbia Heights is only about
48:31
two-and-a-half miles or so to the sites where
48:33
those two planes crashed in Northeast Minneapolis.
48:36
You and I should take a drive down there soon,
48:37
you know, just to see the houses on Pierce Street
48:39
and Fillmore Street, even Buchanan Street where
48:41
we lived, and then see the site of the other
48:44
plane crash near the Northeast Athletic Field,
48:47
even the intersection of 19th and Johnson where
48:49
Lieutenant Forsmark parachuted to safety. A lot
48:52
of history there and a lot of memories there.
48:55
Yes. Good ones, for the most part. Anyway, I'm
48:59
glad you joined me for this podcast episode, Dave.
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Thanks for having me. And again, to our listeners,
49:09
thanks for hangin’ out with me, Bob Edholm, and
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my brother, Dave Edholm. We hope you’ll join us for
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the next episode of “Hangin’ Out with Bob,” wherever
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you listen to your podcast until then. Bye-eee!