1960 Munich C-131 crash
A C-131D similar to the accident aircraft
Accident
Date17 December 1960
SummaryTake-off failure
SiteWest of Munich-Riem Airport, Munich, West Germany
48°8′20″N 11°32′59″E / 48.13889°N 11.54972°E / 48.13889; 11.54972
Total fatalities52 (including 32 on the ground)
Total injuries20 (on the ground)
Aircraft
Aircraft typeConvair C-131D (CV-340)
OperatorThird Air Force, United States Air Force
Registration55-0291
Flight originMunich-Riem Airport
DestinationRAF Northolt
Passengers13
Crew7
Fatalities20
Survivors0
Ground casualties
Ground fatalities32
Ground injuries20

On 17 December 1960, a Convair C-131D Samaritan operated by the United States Air Force on a flight from Munich to RAF Northolt crashed shortly after take-off from Munich-Riem Airport, due to fuel contamination. All 20 passengers and crew on board as well as 32 people on the ground were killed.[1][2]

Accident

St. Paul's Church, Munich

On 17 December 1960, the Samaritan was due to fly from Munich-Riem airport in Germany to RAF Northolt in the United Kingdom with 13 passengers and 7 crew.[1] Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft lost power to one of its two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engines.[2] Unable to maintain altitude and with bad visibility due to fog, it hit the 318-foot (97 m) steeple of St. Paul's Church next to the Oktoberfest site (then vacant) in the Ludwigsvorstadt borough. Subsequently, at 2:10 PM, it crashed into a crowded two-section Munich tramway car on Martin-Greif-Straße, close to Bayerstraße.[3]

All 13 passengers and 7 crew members on the plane died. 32 people on the ground were killed and 20 were injured.[1] A section of the wing crashed through the roof of a building at Hermann-Lingg-Straße, a block away from the main accident site, without injuring anybody there. The Free Lance-Star, a daily newspaper for Fredricksburg and its surrounding areas, reported that some passengers on the Convair were holiday-bound University of Maryland students who were dependants of military personnel stationed in England.[4]

Aircraft

The accident aircraft, Convair C-131D-CO Samaritan, (c/n 212, company designation: Model 340-79), was a twin piston engined military transport with seating for 44 passengers. Given the military serial number 55-0291, the aircraft was the first United States Air Force C-131 to be based in Europe, at RAF Northolt, where it was under command of the 7500th Air Base Group, 3rd Air Force, U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE).[5]

Investigation

A crash investigation revealed water in the fuel tank booster pump. Because water is more dense than fuel it can settle to the bottom of the tank, into the pump inlets; when it freezes it blocks inlets and deprives the engine of fuel. This deprivation of fuel caused the Munich C-131 to lose power and eventually shut down the engine.[2]

Aftermath

After the accident, the Munich Fire & Rescue Services ordered new TLF 16 powder trucks to complement their fleet of traditional water tenders.[6][7]

Munich had initiated the expansion plans for Munich-Riem Airport in 1954. However, two plane crashes within the Munich city limit in the space of two years, and the New York air disaster that happened a day before, stopped the expansion plans. The city and state governments decided to build a new airport outside the city limit instead. Similar discussions were held in Hamburg about its Fuhlsbüttel Airport, but the airport was expanded rather than relocated elsewhere, making the airport the oldest continuously operated in Germany to this day.[8][9]

Memorial plaque at the accident site (translation: "In memory of the 52 victims of the airplane crash on 17 December 1960")

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ranter, Harro. "Accident description". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 13 March 2005. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 "ACCIDENT DETAILS". www.planecrashinfo.com. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  3. ↑ Stankiewitz, Karl (17 December 2020). "Flugzeugabsturz vor 60 Jahren in München: "Gerade ist Furchtbares passiert"" [Plane crash 60 years ago in Munich: "A terrible thing has just happened"]. Abendzeitung München (in German). Archived from the original on 17 December 2020.
  4. ↑ "Munich Plane Crash Kills 50–60 Today". The Free Lance-Star. 17 December 1960. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  5. ↑ "Royal Air Force Northolt Convair Feature". landair.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Archived from the original on 11 February 2008. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  6. ↑ "Nachkreigszeit: 1945 bis 1970" [Post-war period: 1945 to 1970]. Muenchen.de (in German). Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  7. ↑ "TLF-16". Oldtimerfreunde Feuerwerk Flensburg (in German). 10 June 2018.
  8. ↑ Jaentschi-Haucke, Karin. "Bezirksvereinigung Südbayern" [District Association of Southern Bavaria]. www.vwl.uni-freiburg.de (in German). Archived from the original on 14 September 2001. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  9. ↑ "History 1910–1916 Early history". www.ham.airport.de. Retrieved 28 July 2014.

Other sources

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