1962
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Loss
The breaking news swept through Atlanta like wildfire: An airplane crash in Paris had claimed the lives of 121 of Atlanta’s most respected citizens.
Radio and television stations began broadcasting the news around 7:50 a.m., but the tragedy’s full impact wasn’t felt until about 10 a.m. Many residents were on the way to church or were awakened by distressing calls from overseas.
As noon approached, flags were lowered to half-mast in Atlanta, signaling a city in mourning. The magnitude of the loss, both in human life and the cultural void left behind, was unprecedented. Atlanta was no stranger to tragedy, but not since the Winecoff hotel fire in 1946, where 119 souls were lost, had the city witnessed such a calamity.
Newspapers scrambled to pay tribute. The Atlanta Journal printed its first extra edition since the death of Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone with the Wind. The irony was hard to miss; among those lost in the crash was one of the Atlanta Journal’s editors, Margaret Turner. Margaret’s last column, which had been published days before the crash spoke excitedly about the cultural tour, but now served as a haunting reminder of the loss.
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