Truly thrilled the ALPA archive may be of help.
I should be clear, I'm not a pilot. But your project is exceptionally intriguing from the standpoint of accomplishing a kind of time travel - creating a window into the past where you can view the scene as it was on the dates of and surrounding the crash.
So while I'm of no use when it comes to analysis of the flight sequence, I can at least try to locate other information out there useful for purposes of identification, mapping, and orientation around the site.
I'll also keep working on ferreting out other sources where photos, documents, or footage are hiding.
BTW, I don't want to clog the thread, so please let me know if you'd prefer PMs to posts.
A few last notes though: with regard to nailing down exact locations, have you done any comparisons with topo maps from the time period? Or with the various City of Chicago planning documents for O'Hare ? Together they might provide clues to structures and features for orientation, are drawn exactly to scale, and in the case of the topos and one engineering report provide info on elevation and terrain.
There are USGS historic maps available for free, none from 1961 , but I can point you to a 1957 Chicago quadrangle and a 1963 Elmhurst map with enough detail they may be of use.
Several O'Hare master-plan documents are available in the Internet Archive. They contain quite a number of maps, diagrams, and photos potentially relevant to your re-creation...though you'd be the best judge of that, of course. 1958 master plan volumes are avaiable, including the first-stage Engineering report, also the 1960 fueling system agreement and the 1962 Revenue Bond Improvement plan which probably contain the most contemporaneous look at the airport and area.
I can also look, if you like, for surveys and documents from public utilities, and from the rail companies tangentially involved (if I'm reading the maps and reports correctly those would be the Chicago and North Western or the C.M.St.P&P or both). It's possible their files might even include information from the crash and/or related repairs.
Um...nonetheless, if any of these are way off the mark, please let me know. Likewise if there is anything in particular you think would be useful. I actually enjoy historic research, and would be pleased to be of assistance wherever possible.
Cheers,
c