1960 Munich C-131 crash - Misplaced Pages

1960 aviation disaster in Munich, West Germany For the 1958 accident that involved Manchester United, see Munich air disaster.

1960 Munich C-131 crash
Accident
A C-131D similar to the accident aircraft
Date	17 December 1960
Summary	Take-off failure
Site	West 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 fatalities	52 (including 32 on the ground)
Total injuries	20 (on the ground)
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Convair C-131D (CV-340)
Operator	Third Air Force, United States Air Force
Registration	55-0291
Flight origin	Munich-Riem Airport
Destination	RAF Northolt
Passengers	13
Crew	7
Fatalities	20
Survivors	0
Ground casualties
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. Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft lost power to one of its two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engines. 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.

All 13 passengers and 7 crew members on the plane died. 32 people on the ground were killed and 20 were injured. 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 dependents of military personnel stationed in England.

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 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.

References

^ Ranter, Harro. "Accident description". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 13 March 2005. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
^ "ACCIDENT DETAILS". www.planecrashinfo.com. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
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.
"Munich Plane Crash Kills 50–60 Today". The Free Lance-Star. 17 December 1960. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
"Royal Air Force Northolt Convair Feature". landair.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Archived from the original on 11 February 2008. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
"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.
"TLF-16". Oldtimerfreunde Feuerwerk Flensburg (in German). 10 June 2018.
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.
"History 1910–1916 Early history". www.ham.airport.de. Retrieved 28 July 2014.

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, ISBN 0-907407-95-1 published by Octopus in 1976.
Erinnerungen an das Drama in München. Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation: text, video and pictures (German). Retrieved 23 January 2019.

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in Germany
German Empire (1871–1918)	Otto Lilienthal (August 1896) Erbslöh (July 1910) Helgoland Island air disaster (September 1913) Johannisthal air disaster (October 1913)
Nazi Germany (1933–1945)	Swissair Tuttlingen accident (July 1934) Deutsche Lufthansa Ju 90 crash (November 1940)
Occupied Germany (1945–1949)	Gatow air disaster (April 1948)
West Germany and West Berlin (1949–1991)	KLM Flight 592 (March 1952) Sabena Convair Crash (October 1953) Altensteig mid-air collision (August 1955) Munich air disaster (February 1958) template Munich C-131 crash (December 1960) ČSA Flight 511 (March 1961) Lufthansa Flight 005 (January 1966) Pan Am Flight 708 (November 1966) Paninternational Flight 112 (September 1971) LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 hijacking (August 1978) Royal Air Force Jaguar shootdown incident (May 1982) Rhein-Main Starfighter crash (May 1983) Nürnberger Flugdienst Flight 108 (February 1988) Ramstein air show disaster (August 1988) Remscheid A-10 crash (December 1988) 1989 Germany mid-air collision (January 1989)
East Germany (1949–1991)	F-84 Thunderstreak incident (September 1961) T-39 shootdown incident (January 1964) Königs Wusterhausen air disaster (August 1972) Interflug Flight 1107 (September 1975) Aeroflot Flight 892 (December 1986) Interflug Flight 102 (June 1989)
Germany (1991 onwards)	Überlingen mid-air collision (July 2002) Swiss International Air Lines Flight 850 (July 2002)
Includes both the former East Germany and West Germany

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 1960 (1960)
Jan 6 National Airlines Flight 2511Jan 18 Capital Airlines Flight 20Jan 19 SAS Flight 871Jan 21 Avianca Flight 671Feb 5 Douglas DC-4 Cochabamba crashFeb 25 Rio de Janeiro mid-air collisionFeb 26 Aeroflot Flight 315Feb 26 Alitalia Flight 618Mar 17 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 710May 1 U-2 incidentJun 10 Aeroflot Flight 207Jun 10 Trans Australia Airlines Flight 538Jun 24 Real Transportes Aéreos Flight 435Jul 1 RB-47 incidentJul 14 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 1-11Jul 15 Ethiopian Air Lines Flight 372Jul 16 Danish football air crashJul 21 Chicago Helicopter Airways Flight 698Aug 17 Aeroflot Flight 036Aug 29 Air France Flight 343Sep 19 World Airways Flight 830Sep 26 Austrian Airlines Flight 901Oct 4 Eastern Air Lines Flight 375Oct 29 Cal Poly football team plane crashNov 20 F-84 Thunderstreak crashNov 23 Philippine Air Lines Flight S26Dec 16 New York mid-air collisionDec 17 Munich C-131 crashDec 22 Philippine Air Lines Flight S85
1959 ◄ ► 1961

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1960 (1960)

Jan 6 National Airlines Flight 2511Jan 18 Capital Airlines Flight 20Jan 19 SAS Flight 871Jan 21 Avianca Flight 671Feb 5 Douglas DC-4 Cochabamba crashFeb 25 Rio de Janeiro mid-air collisionFeb 26 Aeroflot Flight 315Feb 26 Alitalia Flight 618Mar 17 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 710May 1 U-2 incidentJun 10 Aeroflot Flight 207Jun 10 Trans Australia Airlines Flight 538Jun 24 Real Transportes Aéreos Flight 435Jul 1 RB-47 incidentJul 14 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 1-11Jul 15 Ethiopian Air Lines Flight 372Jul 16 Danish football air crashJul 21 Chicago Helicopter Airways Flight 698Aug 17 Aeroflot Flight 036Aug 29 Air France Flight 343Sep 19 World Airways Flight 830Sep 26 Austrian Airlines Flight 901Oct 4 Eastern Air Lines Flight 375Oct 29 Cal Poly football team plane crashNov 20 F-84 Thunderstreak crashNov 23 Philippine Air Lines Flight S26Dec 16 New York mid-air collisionDec 17 Munich C-131 crashDec 22 Philippine Air Lines Flight S85

1959 ◄ ► 1961

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