Author relives 1958 plane crash and its effects on her life
by Mary Lancaster • Independent Writer
Imagine the immeasurable confusion and terrible fear an 18-month-old child would endure after being taken from her mother who was trapped in a plane crash. The baby, left by her rescuer beneath a tree while the plane became engulfed in flames, never saw her mother again.

Clockwise from top, left: Amazingly unscathed with just a scratched chin, 18-month-old Cindy Lou Young is comforted by a nurse after her rescue from a plane crash on Nantucket on Aug. 15, 1958. Scores of rescue workers toiled to move debris and free trapped passengers. Cindy after a few days of recovery and, bottom inset, as she looks today. Book cover, above.

The recalling of the awful event that occurred on Nantucket in 1958 is the subject of a book written by the now grown, Cindy Lou Houghton, whose publication, "Out of the Fog," describes the circumstances of the accident and how the island community pulled together to save as many lives as possible. The book's title is also a metaphor for what she experienced and conquered after the loss of her mother.

"It's a part of letting it all go and moving on," said Houghton, now 51, happily married and with a daughter, Taryn, 18. Houghton, who lives in Gilmanton Iron Works, N.H., anticipates that "Out of the Fog" will be in print by mid-March. She plans a book signing on Nantucket over April's Daffodil Weekend.

Because Houghton, who in published accounts was referred to as "the miracle baby," has no memory of the crash, she relied on stories told to her by her grandparents, by spouses of some survivors who have since died, and research, using official records, news articles and other materials. Some of the documentation came from the island's Town Crier newspaper, an accident report compiled by the National Transportation Safety Board, a Life magazine article on the crash in its Aug. 25, 1958 issue, and a movie produced about one of the survivors that aired on The Dupont Show of the Week in 1964. By using these sources, Houghton was able to write the story as if she had been a witness to the rescue effort and several interpersonal experiences.

The book begins by introducing readers to Houghton's mother, island native Jackie Duce, whose parents were Annie and Arnie Duce and who both suffered from alcoholism. Annie was the sister of Trina Ceely, mother of the late Oscar Ceely and grandmother of Martin and Stephen Ceely and Stephanie (Ceely) Hanson who are Houghton's cousins. Jackie Duce was just 16 when she fell for 20-year-old Philip Young, a sailor from Troy, Ohio who was stationed at Nantucket's Navy base. Jackie became pregnant and the young couple married in the fall of 1956, only three months before Cindy was born. Young was transferred to Rhode Island. Jackie and her daughter stayed on the island, then spent time with Young before finally going to Ohio to live on his parents' farm. During that period, Houghton's grandmother often wrote Jackie trying to convince her to come home. The Youngs' relationship became more and more unstable.

A couple of days prior to the crash, Jackie contacted her parents who wired money to Ohio so she and Cindy could return to Nantucket. At 10:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 15, 1958, the mother and daughter left LaGuardia Airport aboard Northeast Airlines flight 258, a Convair CV-240-2. It was a hot summer night as the two flew towards the island with 31 other passengers and three crew members. Nantucketer Tom Giffin was the senior agent for Northeast Airlines on duty that evening and handled radio communications between the local terminal and crew of flight 258.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BILL HADDON

Anyone familiar with Nantucket knows that when the weather is steamy it is common for thick fog to roll in, which often envelops the airport. At 11:28 p.m. the FAA flight service station at the airport radioed the captain of flight 258 that encroaching fog had brought visibility to a half-mile. That condition would have still allowed the plane to land, but at 11:33 p.m. another transmission went out to 258 that visibility had been reduced to one-eighth of a mile, below acceptable FAA standards for a safe landing. It remains unclear whether the captain heard that second report. In 1958, the airport did not have a tower to monitor takeoffs and landings and was not equipped with technology to permit instrument landings in such foggy conditions.

Many people, including Annie and Arnie Duce, were at the airport awaiting the plane's arrival. Through breaks in the rolling mist, several saw flight 258 pass over the tarmack heading east/northeast. Moments later a flash was observed resulting from the plane undershooting the beginning of runway 24, hitting the ground about four-tenths of a mile from the start of that runway, then ending up approximately 300 yards further on in a brushy area. A wing struck the ground in the process, the craft flipped into a vertical position then slammed down. When the plane finally came to a stop its center section had broken off the fuselage and spilling fuel immediately ignited into a raging blaze that took 22 lives, including all three crew. Two more passengers died from their injuries the next day.

During the rescue attempt, made difficult by the thick brush, smoke and darkness, the hospital brought in all the aid it could find. Afew passengers were still trapped in the plane's smoldering tail, including Houghton's mother. She did not survive, but lived long enough to scream out to a John B. Shea of New York City to "Save the baby! Take the baby!" Shea grabbed the child and placed her under a tree away from the burning plane, then went back to the site to try and help others. In the chaos and his own shock after the accident Shea lost track of where he put Houghton, but she was found safe by the late Bob Haley, a state trooper at the time who was part of the massive rescue team. Rescue attempts by all who were at the crash scene were nothing short of heroic, according to the book's accounts.

Some of the twisted wreckage left after Northeast Airlines flight 258 undershot the runway during heavy fog and crashed in thick brush. Only 10 of the 34 passengers and three crew members aboard survived the tragic accident.

Former islander Arthur Desrocher was head of Nantucket's civil defense agency at the time and arranged to have blood flown in, working nearly 48 hours straight at the hospital. He said it was fortunate that, because the crash occurred in the summer, there were many qualified medical professionals visiting who volunteered to assist with treatment.

"People came from everywhere," said Desrocher. "It was a big team effort."

Houghton was raised by her grandparents. In the ensuing years, she endured the trials of living with chronic alcoholics, then dealt with her own drug and alcohol demons which she initially succumbed to but eventually overcame. She was also reunited with her father's family and received a special gift from his mother when she turned 18, though to this day her connections with her father are infrequent and unpredictable. She said she has not heard from him in three years and has two half-brothers from his other marriages she has never met and who also rarely experience their father's presence or interest in them.

"He doesn't even know this book

exists, which is kind of sad," she said. I