The aircraft, a four-engined, propeller-driven Douglas DC-6, had departed from Newark Airport's runway 24 at 00:18 EST and was observed by personnel in the control tower suddenly losing altitude, while veering to the right.

Two minutes later, the plane clipped an apartment building in Elizabeth, setting it on fire; it then crashed to the ground and burst into flames, narrowly missing an orphanage.

Among the passengers was actress Mildred Joanne Smith, who suffered severe injuries, including a broken back.

The official investigation by the Civil Aeronautics Board concluded that a failure in the propeller's pitch control system of engine No.

[3] The three crashes later provided the inspiration to writer and Elizabeth resident Judy Blume for her 2015 novel In the Unlikely Event.