British Documentary Crew Produces “The Elkton Plane Crash”

A film crew out of London, England, researching lightning as a cause of air disasters, recently called on the Historical Society of Cecil County for help in producing a title called “The Elkton Plane Crash.” The incident they were capturing on video occurred on December 8, 1963, when a Pan Am Airliner circling above Elkton, waiting for a storm to clear, was struck by lightning. The craft erupted in flames, pieces of it plunging into a muddy farm field at the eastern edge of the town. All of the crew and passengers aboard Flight 214 were killed.

David Monaghan Productions were looking for help in finding historical information on the incident and in locating witnesses to the crash, as well as pinpointing locations for capturing images on tape. The five-member production crew flew into town on a snowy January weekend, and while here, the company interviewed Rosemary Culley, the dispatcher on duty the night of the crash; Chief Thomas N. McIntire, who headed the town police force and was an assistant fire chief; Christopher Knuth, whose father was piloting the plane when it was struck by lightning; and area residents including William Baker, Sandy Barnett, and Don Cornett. The documentary will air on Britain’s Channel 5, in the late spring and after that it will probably appear on cable channels.

Click here for the full story from the Cecil Whig of January 19, 2004.