[1][2][3] The DC-7B, which was earmarked for delivery to Continental Airlines, took off from the Santa Monica Airport at 10:15 a.m. on its first functional test flight, with a crew of four Douglas personnel aboard.

Both jets and the DC-7B were performing their individual tests at an altitude of 25,000 feet (7,600 m) in clear skies over the San Fernando Valley when, at about 11:18 a.m., a high-speed, near-head-on midair collision occurred.

[4] Following the collision, Curtiss Adams, the radarman aboard the eastbound twin-engine F-89J Scorpion, was able to bail out of the stricken fighter jet and, despite incurring severe burns, parachuted to a landing on a garage roof in Burbank, breaking his leg when he fell to the ground.

On the school playground, where 220 boys were ending their outdoor athletic activities, the wreckage broke upon explosion and impact into numerous pieces, and intense fires began due to the aircraft's fuel and oil.

The crash also prompted the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to set restrictions on all aircraft test flights, both military and civilian, requiring that they be made over open water or specifically approved sparsely populated areas.