Germany | Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives

The single engine airplane departed Berlin-Tempelhof Airport at 1115LT on a local test flight, carrying five engineers and one pilot. About 15 minutes into the flight, while cruising over the city of Berlin, the airplane entered an uncontrolled descent and crashed onto a house located in the district of Neukölln, bursting into flames. The wreckage was found about 3 km east of Tempelhof Airport. The house located 58 Lahnstrasse as well as the aircraft were totally destroyed. All six occupants on board the aircraft as well as two people in the house were killed.

Ground accident of a Boeing 247 in Nuremberg

Date & Time: May 24, 1935

Type of aircraft:

Boeing 247

Operator:

Registration:

D-AGAR

Flight Phase:

Parking

Flight Type:

Scheduled Revenue Flight

Survivors:

Yes

Site:

Airport (less than 10 km from airport)

MSN:

1945

YOM:

1935

Location:

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The Boeing 247 was parked at Nurenberg Airport when it was hit by an Air France Wibault 283.T12 registered F-AMYD. The German aircraft was damaged beyond repair while the French aircraft was undamaged. There were no casualties.

Crash of a Junkers W.34 in Schneeberg: 7 killed

Date & Time: Apr 30, 1935

Type of aircraft:

Junkers W.34

Operator:

Luftdienst

Registration:

D-OMYI

Flight Phase:

Flight

Flight Type:

Charter/Taxi (Non Scheduled Revenue Flight)

Survivors:

Site:

Mountains

Schedule:

Böblingen – Breslau

Location:

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The single engine airplane departed Böblingen on a flight to Breslau (now Wrocław), carrying three passengers and four crew members. En route, the pilot encountered poor weather conditions and low visibility due to heavy snow falls. Too low, the airplane impacted trees and crashed in a hilly and wooded terrain. The wreckage was found four days later, on May 3. All seven occupants were killed.
Crew:
Lt Col Walter Braun,
Flt/Inst Hermann Sacht,
Airman Franz Heinisch,
Airman Otto Deichmann.
Passengers:
Gen Maj Heinz Höring,
Mrs. Tony Höring,
Mrs. Hanna Höring.

Probable cause:

Controlled flight into terrain.

Crash of a Junkers JU.52/3mho in Hallgarten: 3 killed

Date & Time: Apr 25, 1935

Type of aircraft:

Junkers JU.52

Operator:

Registration:

D-AJYR

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Site:

Schedule:

Berlin – Cologne – Frankfurt

MSN:

4045

YOM:

1934

Location:

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The three engine airplane named 'Emil Schäfer' departed Berlin on a mail/cargo flight to Frankfurt via Cologne, carrying three crew members. En route, weather conditions worsened with low ceiling and rain falls. While cruising in poor visibility, the airplane impacted trees and crashed in a wooded area located on the north slope of a hill. The captain was killed while two other occupants were seriously injured. They died from their injuries few days later.
Crew:
Franz Kneer, pilot,
Franz Pfeil, flight engineer,
Kurt Heinecke, radio operator.

Probable cause:

Controlled flight into terrain.

Crash of a Fokker F12 near Brilon: 7 killed

Date & Time: Apr 6, 1935 at 1518 LT

Type of aircraft:

Fokker F12

Operator:

Registration:

PH-AFL

Flight Phase:

Flight

Flight Type:

Scheduled Revenue Flight

Survivors:

Site:

Mountains

Schedule:

Prague – Leipzig – Essen – Amsterdam – Rotterdam

MSN:

5242

YOM:

1930

Flight number:

KL676

Location:

Brilon

North Rhine-Westphalia

Country:

Germany

Region:

Europe

Crew on board:

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The three engine aircraft named 'Leeuwerik' departed Leipzig-Halle Airport at 1314LT, carrying two passengers and five crew members. At 1435LT, the radio navigator informed ground about his position some 10 km north of Kassel. Five minutes later, while cruising at a height of 1,000 metres, he reported poor weather conditions and low visibility due to heavy snow falls. He also requested a weather bulletin for Essen, the next stop before Amsterdam. The captain reduced his altitude to 450 metres and completed two successive turns when the aircraft impacted the side of a hilly terrain located some 15 km east of Brilon. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire. All seven occupants were killed.
Crew:
P. Soer, pilot,
E. A. J. Prillwitz, copilot,
P. Welman,
H. Wingelaar.
Th. J. van den Klein, engineer.
Passengers:
H. L. A. Briel,
W. de Vlugt.

Probable cause:

It is the opinion of the Accident Investigation Board that at the time of the accident, the horizontal visibility was reduced to 80 meters due to snow falls. In such conditions, crew was unable to distinguish the ground and to establish his real position to continue then flight in a safely manner.

Crash of a Heinkel He.70D in Konstanz: 2 killed

Date & Time: Jan 14, 1935

Type of aircraft:

Heinkel He.70

Operator:

Registration:

D-UDAS

Flight Phase:

Flight

Flight Type:

Cargo

Survivors:

Site:

Plain, Valley

Schedule:

Sevilla - Stuttgart

MSN:

710

YOM:

1934

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While on a cargo flight from Sevilla to Stuttgart, the airplane crashed in unknown circumstances near Konstanz. Both crew members were killed.
Crew:
Mr. Steidel, pilot,
Mr. Stöwer, mechanic.

Crash of a Junkers F.13ke in Sachau: 3 killed

Date & Time: Dec 7, 1934

Type of aircraft:

Junkers F.13

Operator:

Registration:

D-OMAS

Flight Phase:

Flight

Flight Type:

Scheduled Revenue Flight

Survivors:

Site:

Plain, Valley

Schedule:

Berlin – Hanover

MSN:

2008

YOM:

1928

Location:

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Crashed in unknown circumstances in Sachau, northwest of Braunschweig, Germany. All three occupants were killed.

Crash of a Junkers A.20 in Königswinter: 1 killed

Date & Time: Oct 15, 1934

Type of aircraft:

Junkers A.20

Operator:

Registration:

D-404

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Site:

MSN:

459

YOM:

1924

Location:

Königswinter

North Rhine-Westphalia

Country:

Germany

Region:

Europe

Crew on board:

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Circumstances:

The airplane was engaged in an aerial photography mission, carrying one photographer and one pilot. It crashed in unknown circumstances in Königswinter, some 10 km southeast of Bonn. The pilot Grobe was killed and the photographer Schmidt was seriously injured.

Crash of a Curtiss AT-32C Condor II in Tuttlingen: 12 killed

Date & Time: Jul 27, 1934 at 0950 LT

Type of aircraft:

Curtiss T-32 Condor II

Operator:

Registration:

CH-170

Flight Phase:

Flight

Flight Type:

Scheduled Revenue Flight

Survivors:

Site:

Plain, Valley

Schedule:

Zurich – Stuttgart – Leipzig – Berlin

MSN:

YOM:

1934

Location:

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The airplane departed Dübendorf Airport on a schedule service to Berlin with intermediate stops in Stuttgart and Leipzig. After passing the border between Switzerland and Germany, while cruising at an altitude of 3,000 feet, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with thunderstorm activity and turbulences. The right wing detached and the aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent then crashed in a wooded area located in Tuttlingen, some 30 km north of the Swiss/German border. The aircraft was completely demolished by impact forces and all 12 occupants were killed. This was the first accident involving a Swissair's aircraft since its foundation in 1931. Brand new, the aircraft was in service by the Swiss National carrier since March 28, 1934.
Crew:
Armin Mühlematter, pilot,
Hans Daschinger, radio navigator,
Nelly Diener, stewardess. First official stewardess in Europe, she started her carrier by Swissair on May 1st, 1934.

Probable cause:

The break-up was attributed to the failure of the aircraft’s starboard wing due to fractures in the power plant/wing structure. Oscillations were blamed for causing the original fractures in the structure, with stress from unfavorable winds encountered in the cloud through which CH-170 had flown factoring in the ultimate failure. The German investigative commission ruled that one of the original fractures was facilitated by defects with respect to construction and welding technology. A second fracture, occurring later, apparently resulted from what was described as ‘brute’ force.