Las Vegas’ Deadliest Air Disaster

A cross near Cactus Aveue and Decatur Boulevard marks the site of Las Vegas’ deadliest air disaster. On April 21, 1958, an Air Force fighter jet collided with United Airlines Flight 736 at 21,000 feet. Both aircraft plummeted to the ground and burned. All 47 people on the airliner and both men in the fighter jet were killed. The crash led to new air safety regulations, including the creation of what is now the Federal Aviation Administration. The crash site is now a parking lot. The cross on the hill behind it is the only sign of what happened there.