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1960 Munich C-131 crash

1960 aviation disaster in Munich, West Germany

Field	Value
name	1960 Munich C-131 crash
image	Convair C-131D Samaritan USAF.jpg
caption	A C-131D similar to the accident aircraft
date	17 December 1960
type	Take-off failure
occurrence_type	Accident
site	West of Munich-Riem Airport, Munich, West Germany
coords
total_fatalities	52 (including 32 on the ground)
total_injuries	20 (on the ground)
aircraft_type	Convair C-131D (CV-340)
operator	Third Air Force, United States Air Force
tail_number	55-0291
origin	Munich-Riem Airport
destination	RAF Northolt
passengers	13
crew	7
fatalities	20
survivors	0
ground_fatalities	32
ground_injuries	20

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.

Accident

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.

All 13 passengers and 7 crew members on the plane died. 32 people on the ground were killed and 20 were injured.

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).

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.

Aftermath

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

Munich had initiated 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.

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

References

Other sources

Oberbayerisches Volksblatt / Rosenheimer Anzeiger (No. 293 – year 106), 19 December 1960 (German)
Neue Deutsche Wochenschau 569/1960 Summary of a TV report (German). Retrieved 23 January 2019.
Great Disasters by Editor John Canning, published by Octopus in 1976.
Erinnerungen an das Drama in München. Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation: text, video and pictures (German). Retrieved 23 January 2019.

References

Ranter, Harro. "Accident description". [[Aviation Safety Network]].
"ACCIDENT DETAILS".
Stankiewitz, Karl. (17 December 2020). "Flugzeugabsturz vor 60 Jahren in München: "Gerade ist Furchtbares passiert"". Abendzeitung München.
"Royal Air Force Northolt Convair Feature".
"Nachkreigszeit: 1945 bis 1970". Muenchen.de.
(10 June 2018). "TLF-16". Oldtimerfreunde Feuerwerk Flensburg.
"Bezirksvereinigung Südbayern".
"History 1910–1916 Early history".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

aviation-accidents-and-incidents-in-germany history-of-munich 1960-in-west-germany aviation-accidents-and-incidents-in-1960 accidents-and-incidents-involving-united-states-air-force-aircraft 1960s-in-munich germany–united-states-relations university-system-of-maryland december-1960-in-europe tram-accidents accidents-and-incidents-involving-the-convair-cv-240-family

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