Flight 629 was using a Douglas DC-6B and was taking off from Denver, Colorado's Stapleton Airport, bound for Portland, Oregon on November 1, 1955. Its pilot was Lee Hall, a World War II veteran. There were no survivors of the subsequent explosion.
Jack's mother was on board the plane - the motive for the bombing was to claim $37,500 worth of life insurance money, from policies bought in the airport just before take-off. Flight insurance was bought in vending machines at airports back in the 1950's.
John "Jack" Gilbert Graham (January 23, 1932 - January 11, 1957) was a mass murderer who killed 44 people by planting a dynamitebomb in his mother's suitcase that was subsequently loaded aboard United Airlines Flight 629.
Initially, it was believed that Graham's motive for the bombing was to claim $37,500 worth of life insurance money, from policies Graham had bought in the airport terminal just before the aircraft's departure (flight insurance could be routinely purchased in convenient vending machines at airports back in the 1950s).
Jack Gilbert Graham was executed by lethal gas in the Colorado State Penitentiary gas chamber on January 11, 1957.
Graham had no knowledge as to the details of the purchase of this Christmas present; however, she recalled that during the day of November 1, 1955, JackGraham had brought a package into the house and carried it to the basement where Mrs.
Graham stated he had intended to purchase a tool set for his mother; however, upon learning that the type he had intended to buy was not suitable for the purpose for which it was to be used, he had never bought it.
Graham was at this time informed of the findings of the FBI Laboratory and their examination of fragments and pieces of wreckage recovered from the crash scene.
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