Johannisthal air disaster
Painting of LZ18 descending in flames after the engine fire. | |
Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 17 October 1913 |
Summary | In-flight explosion |
Site | near Johannisthal Air Field |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Airship |
Aircraft name | LZ18 (manufacturer's designation) |
Operator | Imperial German Navy |
Registration | L 2 (military designation) |
Crew | 28 |
Fatalities | 28 |
Survivors | 0 |
The Johannisthal air disaster involved the Imperial German Navy's L 2 airship manufactured by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin as LZ 18. Its test flight resulted in the death of all 28 passengers and crew on board. On 17 October 1913, at approximately 10:30 am local time, hydrogen gas which was being vented was sucked into the forward engine and ignited causing the airship to explode and burn. It crashed near Johannisthal Air Field about 16 kilometres (10 mi) southeast of Berlin. The accident occurred a little over a month after the Helgoland Island Air Disaster.
Accident
The "Almanac and Year-Book for 1914" reported that the airship "was destroyed by the explosion of a gasoline tank, which occurred as the ship was making a trial trip above the city of Johannisthal, near Berlin. All except one of the twenty-seven military men on board, including the entire admiralty trial board, were killed.
Thousands of people who had been watching the evolutions of the L-2, which, if accepted, was to have been the flagship of Germany's new aerial fleet, heard a heavy detonation and saw the craft suddenly become enveloped in flames and drop to the ground from a height of 270 metres (900 ft).
On reaching the spot in the road where the wreckage of the airship had fallen the spectators found nothing but a mass of crumpled aluminum and twisted wreckage. The only man found alive was Lieut. Baron von Bieul, a guest on the trip, who was fatally injured. The passengers of the center gondola were blown through the sides of the car by the explosion and their bodies fell a quarter of a mile away from the wreck of the dirigible.
The pilot of the airship was Capt. Gluth, who had been in Count Zeppelin's employ for a long time.
The admiralty trial board consisted of seven officers, including Lieutenant-Commander Behnish, and Lieut. Freyer, both personal friends of Emperor William, Naval Constructors Neumann and Pietzler, Naval Engineer Busch, Lieut. Trenk and Chief Engineer Haussmann were among the others killed."[1][2]
References
- v
- t
- e
(1871-1918)
- Otto Lilienthal (August 1896)
- Erbslöh (July 1910)
- Helgoland Island air disaster (September 1913)
- Johannisthal air disaster (October 1913)
(1933-1945)
- Swissair Tuttlingen accident (July 1934)
- Deutsche Lufthansa Ju 90 crash (November 1940)
(1945-1949)
- Gatow air disaster (April 1948)
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)
(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)
(1991-)
- Überlingen mid-air collision (July 2002)
- Swiss International Air Lines Flight 850 (July 2002)
52°26′12″N 13°31′4″E / 52.43667°N 13.51778°E / 52.43667; 13.51778