1947 KLM Douglas DC-3 Copenhagen disaster

1947 KLM Douglas DC-3 Copenhagen disaster
Airline crash
Date26 January 1947 (1947-01-26)
SummaryFailure to properly prepare aircraft for flight
SiteKastrup, Denmark
55°37′5″N 12°39′22.5″E / 55.61806°N 12.656250°E / 55.61806; 12.656250
Aircraft
Aircraft typeDouglas DC-3
OperatorKLM
RegistrationPH-TCR
Flight originSchiphol Airport, Netherlands
StopoverKastrup Airport, Denmark
DestinationStockholm Bromma Airport, Sweden
Passengers16
Crew6
Fatalities22
Injuries0
Survivors0

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]

References

  1. ^ "Accident Synopsis – 1947-12". planecrashinfo.com. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  2. ^ "Prince and opera star killed in plane crash". Ottawa Citizen. Associated Press. 24 January 1947. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  3. ^ "Grace Moore's Body From Plane 1947". Pathé News. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  4. ^ Brown, Fred (2005). Marking Time: East Tennessee Historical Markers and the Stories Behind Them. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-57233-330-7.
  5. ^ Strickland, Justin W. (2009). Chattanooga's Terminal Station. Charleston SC, Chicago IL, Portsmouth NH, San Francisco CA: Arcadia Publishing. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-7385-6808-9.
  6. ^ Moore, Gay Morgan (2012). Chattanooga's St. Elmo. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-7385-9433-0.
  7. ^ a b "Douglas DC-3C (C-47A-30-DK) PH-TCR Kobenhavn-Kastrup Airport". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 5 February 2014.