Airline crash | |
---|---|
Date | 26 January 1947 |
Summary | Failure to properly prepare aircraft for flight |
Site | Kastrup, Denmark 55°37′5″N12°39′22.5″E / 55.61806°N 12.656250°E |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Douglas DC-3 |
Operator | KLM |
Registration | PH-TCR |
Flight origin | Schiphol Airport, Netherlands |
Stopover | Kastrup Airport, Denmark |
Destination | Stockholm Bromma Airport, Sweden |
Passengers | 16 |
Crew | 6 |
Fatalities | 22 |
Injuries | 0 |
Survivors | 0 |
The 1947 KLM Douglas DC-3 Copenhagen disaster was the crash of a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Stockholm via Copenhagen on 26 January. It occurred shortly after the Douglas DC-3 took off from Kastrup Airport in Denmark. All 22 passengers and crew on board were killed. [1]
Among those killed in the crash were Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden (at the time of his death, second in line to the Swedish throne), U.S. opera singer Grace Moore, and Danish actress Gerda Neumann. [2] Prince Gustaf Adolf was the father of the present king of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf. Moore's body was first flown to Paris on another KLM aircraft, [3] and then to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she was buried in the Forest Hills Cemetery, during a ceremony attended by around eight thousand people. [4] [5] [6]
The probable cause of the crash was determined to be failure to remove the gust locks that had secured the aircraft's elevators while it was parked. [7] It was the worst aviation disaster in Denmark at the time of the crash. [7]
Mary Willie Grace Moore was an American operatic lyric soprano and actress in musical theatre and film. She was nicknamed the "Tennessee Nightingale." Her films helped to popularize opera by bringing it to a larger audience. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in One Night of Love.
Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup is an international airport serving Copenhagen, Denmark, Zealand, the Øresund Region, and southern Sweden including Scania. In 2022 it is the second largest airport in the Nordic countries.
Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport, also known as Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport, and locally referred to simply as JAP, is an airport located in the town of Zanderij and hub for airline carrier Surinam Airways, 45 kilometres (28 mi) south of Paramaribo. It is the larger of Suriname's two international airports, the other being Zorg en Hoop with scheduled flights to Guyana, and is operated by Airport Management, Ltd./ NV Luchthavenbeheer.
Haga Palace, formerly known as the Queen's Pavilion, is located in the Haga Park, Solna Municipality in Metropolitan Stockholm, Sweden. The palace, built between 1802 – 1805, was modelled after ballet-master Gallodiers Italian villa in Drottningholm by architect Carl Christoffer Gjörwell on appointment by King Gustaf IV Adolf for the royal children. It has been the home or summerhouse for several members of the Swedish royal family – most notably it was the birthplace of the present King – until 1966 when King Gustaf VI Adolf transferred its disposal to the government and it was turned into a guesthouse for distinguished foreign official visitors. In 2009, it was announced by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt that the rights of disposal to the palace would be transferred back to the royal court to be used by Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden and her husband, Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland, as a wedding gift in 2010. They moved into Haga Palace after their wedding on 19 June that year.
Det Norske Luftfartselskap A/S or DNL, trading internationally as Norwegian Air Lines, was an airline and flag carrier of Norway. Founded in 1927, it operated domestic and international routes from 1935 to 1941 and from 1946 to 1951. It became one of the three founders of Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) and became one of its three holding companies from 1951, with a 28% stake and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. DNL was renamed SAS Norge ASA in 1996 and was merged in 2001 to create the SAS Group.
Jacob Louis Veldhuyzen van Zanten was a Dutch aircraft captain and flight instructor. He was captain of the KLM Flight 4805 and died in the Tenerife airport disaster, the deadliest accident in aviation history. He was KLM's chief instructor and commonly appeared on advertising.
A gust lock on an aircraft is a mechanism that locks control surfaces and keeps open aircraft doors in place while the aircraft is parked on the ground and non-operational. Gust locks prevent wind from causing unexpected movements of the control surfaces and their linked controls inside the aircraft, as well as aircraft doors on some aircraft; otherwise, wind gusts could cause possible damage to the control surfaces and systems, or to nearby people, cargo, or machinery. Some gust locks are external devices attached directly to the aircraft's control surfaces, while others are attached to the relevant flight controls inside the cockpit.
Det Danske Luftfartselskab A/S or DDL, trading in English as Danish Air Lines, was Denmark's national airline from 1918 until it merged to create Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) in 1951. DDL was established on 29 October 1918, but started its first scheduled route on 7 August 1920.
Gerda Neumann was a Danish film actress. She appeared in nine films between 1936 and 1947. She was born in Copenhagen and died in the 1947 KLM Douglas DC-3 Copenhagen airplane crash in Copenhagen, Denmark. She was the older sister of musician Ulrik Neumann.
Gustaf VI Adolf was King of Sweden from 29 October 1950 until his death in 1973. He was the eldest son of Gustaf V and his wife, Victoria of Baden. Before Gustaf Adolf ascended the throne, he had been crown prince for nearly 43 years during his father's reign. As king, and shortly before his death, he gave his approval to constitutional changes which removed the Swedish monarchy's last political powers. He was a lifelong amateur archeologist particularly interested in Ancient Italian cultures.
The Douglas DC-2 is a 14-passenger, twin-engined airliner that was produced by the American company Douglas Aircraft Company starting in 1934. It competed with the Boeing 247. In 1935, Douglas produced a larger version called the DC-3, which became one of the most successful aircraft in history.
Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten was a Swedish prince who for most of his life was second in the line of succession to the Swedish throne. He was the eldest son of Gustaf VI Adolf, who was crown prince for most of his son's life and ascended the Swedish throne three years after his son's death. The current king, Carl XVI Gustaf, is Prince Gustaf Adolf's son. The prince was killed on 26 January 1947 in an airplane crash at Kastrup Airport, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Lufthansa Flight 502 was a scheduled flight from Hamburg, Germany to Buenos Aires, Argentina on 11 January 1959. The flight was being operated by a Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation. On the leg between Senegal and Brazil the Super Constellation was on approach to Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport when it crashed near Flecheiras Beach just short of the runway. All 29 passengers and seven of the ten crew were killed. It was the first fatal accident involving the current Lufthansa since it was formed in 1955.
Events from the year 1947 in Sweden
The following events occurred in January 1947:
Gerrit Johannes "Geys" Geysendorffer was a Dutch aviation pioneer, knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau, and recipient of the 1926 Harmon National Trophy for the Netherlands.