The Daily News
front page on
September 24,
1962, the day
after Flying Tiger
923 went down.into a horrifying cartwheel, breaking apart, sink-
ing, and likely killing everyone. The lone working
engine—the right outboard, no. 4—billowed angr y
blue f lames as it tried to do the work of four. No. 2’s
unfeathered prop rotated erratically at the mercy
of the wind. As the landing lights illuminated his
point of impact, Murray called out over the 121.5
frequency: “Mayday. About to ditch. Position at
2212 Zulu Fifty-Four North, Twenty-Four West.
One engine serviceable. Souls on board seventy-six.
Request shipping in area prepare to search. Over.”
The plane hit the water at 120 miles per hour—
560 miles from land.ALL 76 PASSENGERS AND CREW MEMBERS
survived the impact and evacuated the wreck. How-
ever, after seven nightmarish hours in the rough,
bitterly cold North Atlantic, only 48 survivors
boarded the first ship on the scene, a Swiss grain
freighter. The remaining 28 died from drowning:
many during a frantic, futile search to find the four
missing life rafts.
Flying Tiger 923’s sea crash was the world’s top
story for a week. In the U.S., news bulletins inter-
rupted the massively popular Bonanza to give
updates on the crash, rescuers appeared on TheEd Sullivan Show before an at-home audience of
40 million viewers, and in terms of column inches,
the story received more newspaper coverage than
astronaut John Glenn’s Florida splashdown earlier
that year. Anchors and aviators alike hailed “the
miracle pilot,” but how was John Murray able to
overcome so many mechanical problems, manage
so many simultaneous crises, and do what most
experts said was impossible?
First, 85 percent of Murray’s piloting since
1957 came at the helm of a Super Constellation,
but he also effected water landings on seaplanes
and amphibians (he held ratings in both). Sec-
ond, his engineering training primed his decision
making to be anchored in physics, not conven-
tion. Third, he was a precise delegator and leader,
with a clarity of purpose and serenity fostered
by a deep personal faith. He didn’t make reac-
tive, survival-motivated decisions, but decisions
based on a personal sense of responsibility for the
75 other lives onboard. A pilot colleague once said
about him, “John knew he was expendable. It was
the definition of what being a captain is all about:
going down with your ship.”Adapted from Tiger in the Sea: The Ditching of
Flying Tiger 923 and the Desperate Struggle for
Survival (Lyons Press; May 14, 2021).November/December 2021 51NY DAILY NEWS VIA GETTY IMAGES