1949 Sabena DC-3 Crash

Last updated
1949 Sabena DC-3 Crash
Douglas DC-3D OO-AUM Sabena Ringway 08.07.49 edited-3.jpg
A Sabena DC-3 in 1949, similar to the aircraft involved in the accident.
Accident
Date18 December 1949 (1949-12-18)
Summary Loss of control after an in-flight structural failure of the wing
Site4 km southeast of the Le Bourget Airport near Aulnay-sous-Bois
Aircraft
Aircraft type Douglas DC-3
Operator Sabena
Registration OO-AUQ
Flight origin Paris-Le Bourget Airport (LBG/LFPB), France
Destination Brussels-Zaventem Airport (BRU/EBBR), Belgium
Occupants8
Passengers4
Crew4
Fatalities8
Injuries0
Survivors0

The 1949 Sabena DC-3 Crash was the crash of a Douglas DC-3 of the Belgian airline Sabena in Aulnay-sous-Bois, France, on 18 December 1949. None of the eight people on board survived the incident. [1]

Contents

Aircraft

The Douglas DC-3 involved was built in 1946 with serial number 10241 and registration OO-AUQ and was used by the Belgian airline company Sabena from 12 August 1946 until its destruction in 1949. [2]

Crash

The Sabena flight departed Le Bourget Airport bound for Zaventem Airport with four passengers and four crew members on board at 20.30 pm on 18 December 1949. However, shortly after takeoff while still climbing, one of the wings separated and sent the aircraft in an uncontrolled dive towards the ground. The plane crashed 4 km southeast of the airport near Aulnay-sous-Bois after clipping a house and burst into flames. Firefighters, Police officers and airport employees reached the crash site to aid any survivors but it was discovered that all eight onboard had perished in the flaming wreckage. The two occupants of the clipped house were unharmed. [3]

NationalityPassengersCrewTotal
TotalKilledTotalKilledTotalKilled
Belgium 224466
United States 110011
Egypt 110011
Total444488

Probable cause

The cause of the crash was determined to be caused by the in-flight structural failure of the wing, but the reason for the wing's failure remains unknown. [4]

Aftermath

The aircraft was destroyed by the impact and post-crash fire and the bodies of the victims were recovered by rescue workers. [1]

Related Research Articles

The Societé anonyme belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation aérienne, better known by the acronym Sabena or SABENA, was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001, with its base at Brussels National Airport. After its bankruptcy in 2001, SN Brussels Airlines was formed through a takeover of former subsidiary Delta Air Transport and took over part of Sabena's assets in February 2002, which became Brussels Airlines after a merger with Virgin Express in March 2007. The airline's corporate headquarters were located in the Sabena House on the grounds of Brussels Airport in Zaventem.

Sobelair

Société Belge des Transports par Air SA, known by its short form Sobelair, was a Belgian airline from that operated from 1946 to 2004. It was headquartered in Brussels and operated mostly non-scheduled passenger and cargo flights out of Brussels Airport.

Douglas DC-7 US airliner with 4 piston engines, 1953

The Douglas DC-7 is an American transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. A derivative of the DC-6, it was the last major piston engine-powered transport made by Douglas, being developed shortly after the earliest jet airliner—the de Havilland Comet—entered service and only a few years before the jet-powered Douglas DC-8 first flew. Unlike other aircraft in Douglas's line of propeller-driven aircraft, no examples remain in service in the present day, as compared to the far more successful DC-3 and DC-6.

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1946:

Gander International Airport Airport in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Gander International Airport is located in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, and is operated by the Gander International Airport Authority. Canadian Forces Base Gander shares the airfield but is a separate entity from the airport. The airport is sometimes referred to as the "Crossroads of the World", and is classified as an international airport by Transport Canada.

Spantax S.A. was a Spanish leisure airline headquartered in Madrid that operated from 1959 to 1988. Spantax was one of the first Spanish airlines to operate tourist charter flights between European and North American cities and popular Spanish holiday destinations and was considered a major force in developing 20th-century mass tourism in Spain. Its popularity and image faded from the 1970s onward when a series of crashes and incidents revealed safety deficits, which, combined with rising fuel costs and increasing competition, resulted in the company facing severe financial difficulties that led to its demise in 1988.

Delta Air Transport was an airline headquartered in Antwerp, Belgium, operating scheduled and chartered flights, mostly on short-haul routes. It served a multitude of regional European destinations on behalf of Sabena during the 1990s and early 2000s.

Belgian International Air Services was a Belgian airline with its headquarters in Antwerp and Brussels. It was operational between 1959 and 1980 and offered mainly passenger and cargo air charter flights from Brussels Airport to the former Belgian colonies in Central Africa.

1935 SABENA Savoia-Marchetti S.73 crash

The 1935 SABENA Savoia-Marchetti S.73 crash occurred on 10 December 1935 when Savoia-Marchetti S.73 OO-AGN of Belgian airline SABENA crashed at Tatsfield, Surrey, England, while on an international scheduled flight from Brussels Airport Haren, Belgium to Croydon Airport, United Kingdom. All eleven passengers and crew were killed.

Sabena Flight 503 1955 aviation accident

The crash of Sabena Flight 503 was an accident involving a Douglas DC-6 of the Belgian airline company Sabena which crashed into Monte Terminillo near Rieti, Italy, 100 km north east of Rome on 13 February 1955, killing all 29 people on board.

1948 Heathrow Disaster 1948 aviation accident

The 1948 Heathrow Disaster was the crash of a Douglas DC-3C of the Belgian airline Sabena at Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom on 2 March 1948. It was the first major accident at Heathrow Airport; of the 22 people on board 20 were killed, of whom most had British nationality.

1948 Sabena DC-4 Crash

The 1948 Sabena DC-4 Crash was the crash of a Douglas DC-4-1009 of the Belgian airline Sabena, 27 km south of Libenge, Belgian Congo, on 12 May 1948. It was the deadliest accident for Sabena at the time and the second of three deadly Sabena crashes in 1948. It was also the deadliest in Belgian Congo before the country's independence as the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1960. Of the 32 people on board 31 were killed, leaving only one survivor.

1953 Sabena Convair Crash

The 1953 Sabena Convair Crash was the crash of a Convair CV-240 of the Belgian airline Sabena, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) north of Frankfurt, West Germany, on 14 October 1953. None of the 44 people on board survived the incident.

References

  1. 1 2 "Accident description". aviation-safety.net. 1996. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  2. "OO-AUQ". skystef.be. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  3. "CRASH OF A DOUGLAS C-47A-60-DL IN AULNAY-SOUS-BOIS: 8 KILLED". baaa-acro.com. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  4. "Belgisch lijnvliegtuig bij Parijs verongelukt". nha.courant.nu. Retrieved 17 July 2020.