Deutsche Luft Hansa - Accidents and Incidents

Accidents and Incidents

• On 6 November 1929, a Deutsche Luft Hansa Junkers G 31 (registration D-903, named Oberschlesien) en route from Croydon to Schipol crashed in thick fog at Godstone, Surrey, United Kingdom, resulting in the deaths of seven of the eight people on board.
• On 29 October 1932, a Deutsche Luft Hansa Junkers W33 (registered D-2017, named Marmara) was on a freight flight from Croydon Airport to Cologne when it crashed off the Kent coast.
• On 26 July 1936, a Deutsche Luft Hansa Junkers G.38 (registered D-AZUR, formerly D-2000) crashed at Dessau due to mechanical failure during a test flight; the pilot survived, but the aircraft was written off.
• On 1 November 1936, a Deutsche Luft Hansa Junkers Ju 52 (registered D-APOO, named Heinrich Kroll) crashed into mountains near Tabarz while en route to Erfurt from Frankfurt, killing 11 of 15 on board.
• On 17 November 1936, a Deutsche Luft Hansa Junkers Ju 52 (registered D-ASUI, named Hans Berr) crashed into a mountain near Lauf an der Pegnitz while on approach to Nurnburg-Marienburg Airport on a Leipzig-Marienburg passenger service, killing four of 16 on board. The pilot became disorientated in heavy snow and poor visibility.
• On 26 November 1937, a Deutsche Luft Hansa Junkers Ju 52 (registered D-AGAV, named Emil Schäfer) crashed in fog into a hangar on takeoff at Croydon Airport, killing all three on board.
• On 1 October 1938, a Deutsche Luft Hansa Junkers Ju 52 (registered D-AVAB) crashed into a mountain near Graubünden en route to Milan from Frankfurt, killing all 13 on board. A postal bag from the aircraft was found in a glacier in 1952.
• On 26 November 1938, a Deutsche Luft Hansa Junkers Ju 90 (registered D-AIVI, named Pruessen) struck a palm tree and crashed at Bathurst (now Banjul), Gambia after double engine failure during take-off while on a tropical trial flight, killing 12 of 15 on board.
• On 9 August 1940, a Deutsche Luft Hansa Douglas DC-2 (registered D-AIAV) crashed near Lämershagen en route to Hannover due to pilot error, killing 2 of 13 on board.
• On 8 November 1940, a Deutsche Luft Hansa Junkers Ju 90 (registered D-AVMF, named Brandenburg) crashed at Schönteichen en route to Budapest from Berlin due to tail icing, killing all 6 crew and 23 passengers on board.
• On 1 March 1941, a Deutsche Luft Hansa Junkers Ju 52 floatplane (registered D-AQUB) crashed on landing in Hommelvik Bay off Trondheim due to waves and later sank. Three of 12 on board drowned.
• On 21 February 1944, a Deutsche Luft Hansa Junkers Ju 52 (registered D-AWAS, named Joachim Blankenburg) went missing off Eretria, Greece with 16 on board; the wreckage was never found.
• During the war, on 27 September 1944 at 20:30 local time, a Deutsche Luft Hansa Focke-Wulf Fw 200 (registered D-AMHL) was shot down by a Bristol Beaufighter near Dijon. The aircraft had been on a scheduled passenger flight from Stuttgart to Barcelona with five passengers and four crew members on board, all of which were killed.
• On 16 October 1944, Deutsche Luft Hansa Flight 7, a Junkers Ju 52 (registered D-ADQU, named Hermann Stache), crashed into a mountain in Flatdal, Seljord, Norway in poor visibility conditions, killing all 15 people on board, including discharged Frontkämpfer Kjell Marthinsen, son of Nazi police general Karl Marthinsen.
• 29 November 1944 at 10:25 local time, a Deutsche Luft Hansa Focke-Wulf Fw 200 (registered D-ARHW) was accidentally shot down by a German "patrol boat" off the Swedish coast during a flight from Berlin to Stockholm, killing the six passengers and four crew members on board.
• On 20 April 1945, during the Battle of Berlin, a Deutsche Luft Hansa Junkers Ju 52 (registered D-ANAJ) was shot down by Soviet fighters while on a Berlin-Munich-Prague evacuation flight, killing 3 crew and 15 passengers on board. Two passengers survived.
• On 21 April 1945, during the Battle of Berlin, a Deutsche Luft Hansa Focke-Wulf Fw 200 (registered D-ASHH, Hessen) escaped from Berlin for a flight to Munich, but crashed near Obertraubling in Bavaria, killing the sixteen passengers and five crew members. The loss was the worst accident involving an aircraft of that type and also for the airline.