Mary Frances Housley Hero of National Airlines Flight 83 (1926-1951)

Mary Frances Housley Hero of National Airlines Flight 83 (1926-1951) is a Tennessee historical marker in Knox County.

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Mary Frances Housley was born on October 12, 1926, to John and Fannie Mayer Housley in Knoxville, Tennessee. She lived at 300 Forestal Dr. (formerly Forest Ave.) while attending Central High School, graduating in 1944. In 1950 she became a flight attendant with National Airlines. Housley was the lone flight attendant on a Douglas DC-4 airplane (NAL Flight 83) with 25 passengers that crashed on January 14, 1951 at Philadelphia International Airport. She saved 10 passengers but perished while trying to rescue 4-month-old Brenda Smith.

TodayHistorical map

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Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

1862 · Johnson's Kentucky & Tennessee (1862) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1895 · Gen. map VII. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1897 · Maynardville, Tennessee (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)
1927 · Relief map, state of Tennessee (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1951 · Sanborn Fire Insurance Map — Knoxville, Tenn. (1951) (OldInsuranceMaps.net — Sanborn Map Collection)

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Marker text and location from the Tennessee Historical Commission, as the Commission publishes them on its marker map.

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