Updated

Fifty years ago Thursday, two commercial airliners collided one mile above New York City and rained destruction on a busy Brooklyn neighborhood.

The Dec. 16, 1960, crash of a United jet and a TWA propeller plane was the deadliest air disaster up to that time. It killed all 128 people on both aircraft and six on the ground.

Hopes were raised when an 11-year-old boy on the plane was found alive, then dashed when he died 24 hours later.

Brooklyn's historic Green-Wood Cemetery will unveil a monument Thursday commemorating Stephen and all the crash victims.

The Federal Aviation Administration says the 1960 crash prompted new safety rules designed to prevent future midair collisions.