How Much Do You Know About The Plane Bombing Over Weld County?

I've lived in Colorado for most of my life, moving here in 1983 and minus a few twists and turns across the U.S., have called Colorado "home" ever since. I've always felt like I've known pretty much everything about the history of our state, so imagine my shock when I discovered that the first-ever bombing of a commercial U.S. flight happened not only just in the State of Colorado, but over Weld County, about 8 miles east of Longmont in what are now beet fields.

November 1, 1955, United Flight 629 took off from what was then called Stapleton Airfield - later Stapleton International Airport - en route to Portland, Oregon. The DC-6, a four engine aircraft, took off at 6:52 PM and exploded in the skies of Weld County at 7:03 PM. The flash could be seen for up to 20 miles, including by the controllers in the Stapleton tower.

Citizens, farmers and first responders rushed from all over to the site of the explosion, encountering bits of the airplane, luggage and worse when they arrived on scene, as all of the debris from the plane came raining out of the sky engulfed in flames and scattered over six square miles.

There were 38 passengers on board and five crew, all of whom were killed in the explosion.

When police and the FBI arrived on the scene, there was a strong smell of dynamite which quickly led them to believe that the plane did not explode due to mechanical or pilot error, but instead was intentionally bombed - the first ever over U.S. soil.

As the investigation progressed, it was determined that one of the passengers on board was Daisie Eldora King, a Denver restauranteur whose son had taken out extra life insurance policies on her just before the explosion. The son had a sketchy record, and in the end it was determined that John Gilbert Graham had placed a homemade bomb in her luggage, seeking revenge for a grudge he'd held since he was a kid over being placed in an orphanage.

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The story is an incredibly dark, deep dive down Colorado's history rabbit hole, and I encourage you to research it online because tragic as it was, their story is fascinating.

Denver7 is a good place to start as they seek to bring awareness to this story in hopes that the community will ultimately build a memorial in Weld County to honor the 44 people killed, and the first responders who showed up to the devastation that night. At the very least, they''re on a mission to educate all of us about the tragic event, given that many Coloradans don't even know it happened - just like I didn't until now.