84 Killed in Worst Air Disaster in California History

June 25, 1965 - An Air Force jet transport carrying 72 Marines and a crew of 12 crashed into a fog-shrouded mountain within a minute after taking off from El Toro Marine Base in Los Angeles early today.

All 84 aboard, bound for the Far East, were killed. It was the worst air disaster in California history and one of the worst military crashes ever.

The C-135 aircraft slammed into Loma Ridge, which rises 1,300 feet and is 4½ miles directly from the end of the runway. The plane missed clearing the ridge by about 100 feet.

Early indications were that engine failure may have been involved, according to a Marine spokesman who declined to elaborate.

Death was instantaneous for all aboard as the huge jet disintegrated in flames, spewing bodies and parts of bodies over the grass-covered hillside over a mile-wide area. Scraps of clothing and personal effects were impaled on spines of cactus.

A Marine spokesman said the aircraft should have climbed more rapidly after taking off from the 380-foot elevation runway and also should have been banking to the left toward the ocean.

On board the plane were 70 enlisted men from the 2nd Replacement Company, Staging Battalion, Camp Pendleton, who were being transferred to the 3rd Marine Division at Okinawa. The 70 men had been gathered from all over the country in the last week under normal replacement procedures.

Parts of the 3rd Marine Division have been fighting in Vietnam.

Two other Marines were “hitch-hiking” a ride, Camp Pendleton reported. 

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