Purple Aces Plane Crash was 40 Years Ago

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It was 40 years ago today that the city of Evansville and the entire state of Indiana was shaken to its core. A plane, carrying the University of Evansville men’s basketball team, coaching staff, other school officials and supporters of the team, crashed shortly after take off in this day, December 13th, back in 1977. The team boarded a chartered DC-3 Aircraft, Air Indiana Flight 216 at around 7:20 a.m. local time and the plane took off soon after. One minute and 30 seconds later, according to eyewitness accounts, the plane entered a hard left bank, the engines revved high and almost immediately crashed near the edge of the airport property along the Louisville & Nashville Railroad track, bursting into flames upon impact. Head Coach Bobby Watson along with all of his coaching staff and all 14 players were killed in the crash. In all, 29 of the 31 passengers on board Air Indiana Flight 216 died.