Each week, Greater Boston is partnering with The Boston Globe to bring you photos “From the Archives,” a feature where more than 1 million staff photographs have been digitized and are being shared with the Globe’s readers each week.
The week of July 30, the Globe features images from … the 1973 Delta crash at Logan Airport.
The worst plane crash in Boston’s history occurred on July 31, 1973, when a Delta Airlines DC-9 exploded into flames after hitting a seawall while landing at Logan Airport. All 89 people aboard Flight 723 died, including the lone survivor who died months later in the hospital. Fog was a major factor in the disaster. The grim photos and reports depict a horrific scene that has haunted the lives of many.
The flight that preceded 723 had made a successful approach and landed in the fog on runway 4R and the two flights that followed, without knowledge of the accident, abandoned their approaches at the decision height because of weather. Those flights both landed safely in Providence, R.I.
In this photo, taken on July 31, 1973, a rescue worker stands next to a section of Flight 723’s charred fuselage. In the background, other planes prepare to take off.