TWA Flight 3 was a twin-engine
Douglas DC-3-382 propliner, registration NC1946, operated by
Transcontinental and Western Air as a scheduled domestic passenger flight from
New York, New York, to
Burbank, California, via
Indianapolis, Indiana;
St. Louis, Missouri;
Albuquerque, New Mexico and
Las Vegas, Nevada. On January 16, 1942, at 19:20
PST, 15 minutes after takeoff from Las Vegas Airport (now
Nellis Air Force Base) bound for Burbank, the aircraft slammed into a sheer cliff on
Potosi Mountain, southwest of the airport, at an elevation of
above sea level, and was destroyed.