The deadliest air disaster in Orange County history occurred 50 years ago this month.
In the early morning of June 25, 1965, an Air Force C-135 Stratolifter with 72 Marines and 12 crew members took off from El Toro Marine Corps Air Station and crashed into a nearby mountain.
Here's a retrospective from The Times' reporting:
Death was instantaneous for all aboard as the huge jet disintegrated in flames on a grass-covered hillside a mile wide.
A Marine spokesman said the aircraft should have climbed more rapidly after taking off from the 380-foot-elevation runway and also banked to the left toward the ocean.