Flight conference accident in Frankfurt
The flight conference in Frankfurt occurred on May 22, 1983, a Whitsun Sunday , when a jet fighter crashed on a nearby expressway as part of a flight demonstration at the Rhein-Main Air Base . Six people were killed.
Course of events
As part of an open day , the American armed forces presented themselves on the military part of Frankfurt Airport. Part of this presentation was a demonstration by the Canadian "Tigers" flight squadron, which was flown in from the Canadian air force base in Baden-Söllingen especially for this purpose . When the five F-104 Starfighter jet fighters showed routine military formations in the sky, a machine broke out of the formation. The jet flew several kilometers to the northeast before it finally crashed almost vertically onto Bundesstraße 44 at the level of the Waldstadion . The pilot was able to save himself with the ejector seat . However, burning wreckage hit the car of the pastor's family, Jürges, who were on their way to a Whitsun excursion. The "Friedenspfarrer" Martin Jürges (40), known in Frankfurt, his wife Irmtraud (38), his mother Erna (77) and his two children Jan (11) and Katharina (1) died at the scene of the accident. Jürges' 19-year-old niece Gesine Wagner was able to escape from the vehicle, but was hit by the fire roller of the exploding jet and burned so badly that she died in hospital on August 11, 81 days after the accident.
causes
Because of NATO - Forces Agreement the accident was from the Canadian Ministry of Defense investigated. The public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt also initiated a death investigation in accordance with the regulations. However, this was mainly based on the results of the Canadian investigation. This investigation result was only officially sent to the Frankfurt authority in the form of a press release. She vaguely stated that "neither technical nor human failure" could be ruled out as the cause of the crash. However, research by the Hessischer Rundfunk in 2003 revealed that the responsible public prosecutor had also received the pilot's interrogation protocols. However, he complied with the Canadian authorities' condition not to use the protocols in his investigation. A consulting-oriented during the reportage expert for accident investigation is based on the present video material to the conclusion that the accident was due to human error.
At the time of the accident, the pilot of the accident machine, Alan Stephenson, was 27 years old. Immediately after the accident, he received psychological care in the Frankfurt military hospital and was flown to Canada about two weeks later. He never spoke publicly about the crash. Stephenson returned to Germany a few years later as a pilot and was a. a. stationed at Ramstein Air Base .
Consequences of the accident
The flight conference disaster attracted additional attention from the fact that a family of designated military opponents was killed in the crash. Martin Jürges had been active in the field of peace politics, especially during his time as city youth pastor . In addition, he was extremely socially committed and accordingly popular in his parish, the Gutleutviertel in Frankfurt . On the day after the accident, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Frankfurt to demonstrate against the arms race and the display of military power. Dean Herrmann Strohmeier said in the context of the memorial service on Whit Monday that Juerges had "become a victim of those weapons in the midst of so-called peace that he had warned against for a lifetime" .
As it quickly became clear that the city had barely escaped a catastrophe due to the crash (in addition to the approximately 400,000 visitors to the air show, thousands of visitors celebrated the traditional Frankfurt Forest Festival just a few hundred meters from the crash site , and there was one on tennis courts right next to the street well-attended Whitsun tournament took place), the Federal Defense Minister initially prohibited military flight demonstrations over metropolitan areas as a result of the accident; the ban on jet aircraft remained in place. However, this could not prevent the Ramstein flight conference five years later.
A large cross near the crash site today commemorates the accident. It bears the inscription "This is where the Jürges family and Gesine Wagner died at Pentecost 1983 in a Starfighter crash". As part of the redesign of the area for the 2006 World Cup , the first dark brown painted cross was dismantled and replaced by a white model that stands behind a high fence off the road. The original cross, which also bears the inscription "Armor kills even without war", is now in the Evangelical Hope Community . Part of this community is Jürges' former community, the Gutleutgemeinde.
In the Gutleutviertel , the Jürges-Platz family on the south side of Frankfurt Central Station is named after the pastor's family who died in the accident. In addition to reminding Morfelden-Walldorf the family-Jürges-way to the family.
literature
- Gesine Wagner: My life was burned in the fire. The Starfighter crash in Frankfurt in 1983. Letters, diary entries, documents. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1996, ISBN 3579005723
Web links
- The Starfighter crash in Frankfurt 30 years ago. A whole family is wiped out. In: The crash. Hessischer Rundfunk, May 21, 2008, archived from the original on July 23, 2016 ; Retrieved on March 9, 2019 (topic page of the Hessischer Rundfunk with TV reports, interviews and video of the crash).
- The Canadair CF-104. In: Project Get Out And Walk. Mike Bennett, 2014, archived from the original on July 4, 2017 ; Retrieved on March 9, 2019 (English, database of ejector seat exits): "22nd May 1983 - RCAF - CF-104 - 104813 - 439 Sqn. "Tigers" Baden - Aircraft departed controlled flight during an air display - Capt. AJ Stephenson ejected - Lockheed C-2 "
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Dieter Schneberger: Death of a family - Starfighter crash 25 years ago wiped out a Frankfurt pastor family. epd , May 15, 2008.
- ↑ Ulrike Bremer: The deadly air show of Frankfurt. ( Memento of the original from April 15, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Video, 44:09 minutes, report by hr television from May 21, 2003, accessed on May 23, 2013.
- ↑ 11th German Bundestag: Report of the committee of inquiry on the flight days in Ramstein and Nörvenich on August 28, 1988. PDF, 5.7 MB. Printed matter 11/5354 of October 9, 1989, p. 111 f.
- ↑ Deadly end to an air show. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Web report by Hessischer Rundfunk from May 23, 2008, accessed on May 23, 2013.
