Plane crash on the Gauli Glacier

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Plane crash on the Gauli Glacier
Accident summary
Accident type CFIT
place Bernese Alps , Switzerland
date November 19, 1946
Fatalities 0
Survivors all 12 occupants
Aircraft
Aircraft type Douglas C-53
operator United States Air Force
Mark 42-68846
Departure airport Tulln Air Base
Stopover Munich
Destination airport Pisa
Passengers 8th
crew 4th
Lists of aviation accidents

On November 19, 1946, in the east of the Bernese Alps, there was an unintentional rough landing of an American Douglas C-53 (military version of the Douglas DC-3 ) on the high snow cover of a moderately sloping high alpine glacier, which went down in history as a plane crash on the Gauli Glacier. It wasn't a crash or a crash landing, more like a stranding , because the plane was hardly damaged.

After taking off from Tulln Air Base near Vienna and a stopover in Munich , the machine was on the flight to the next stopover in Marseille . There were four crew members and eight passengers on board, including two high-ranking soldiers from the American occupation forces in Austria , four women and an eleven-year-old girl. During the rough landing, there were probably injuries due to the strong braking effect in the deep snow, but no fatalities. The circumstances of the rescue of the aircraft occupants, which were only successfully completed six days later, caused a sensation worldwide. It was the first rescue in the high mountains from the air ( air rescue ).

The flight

On November 18, 1946, the Douglas C-53 with the military number 42-68846 took off from the US military airfield Tulln-Langenlebarn, northwest of Vienna. Due to the weather, the planned route ran via Munich , Strasbourg and Dijon to the Istres-Le Tubé military airfield (near Marseille -Istres). The flight was supposed to end in Pisa on November 20, 1946. After a stopover in Munich, the pilot decided to fly via Innsbruck-Brenner due to strong north-westerly winds. He changed direction again via Innsbruck and flew westward. A circle was flown over Chur in order to find the lost orientation again. At 3350 meters above sea level, according to Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC), the flight was carried out in the direction of the Lyon radio beacon through the Swiss Alps, which are higher in many places, and in severe downward winds and turbulence.

On November 19, 1946 at 2:25 p.m., the machine involuntarily landed on the Gauli Glacier (southeast slope of the Gauli ridge ) at a speed of 280 km / h and slid 80 meters upwards over snow and ice. Due to one-sided snow accumulation after touchdown, the aircraft was deflected to the side and slipped further between two crevasses ; otherwise the DC-3 would have crashed into it. Previously, the plane had also flown past several higher peaks for 25 minutes.

The search

The pilots were able to make an emergency call after an hour, which was received at Paris-Orly Airport and at the Istres-Le Tubé military airfield . The crew thought they were in the French Alps; Even radio direction finding did not reveal a clear region. The Americans began a large-scale search in the Alps with 80 aircraft involved.

After about two days, the chief of the Meiringen military airfield in Switzerland noticed how easy the emergency calls were. On the evening of November 21st it was possible to take another bearing; the wreck was located in the triangle Airolo - Sion - Jungfrau . Now Switzerland was also being considered as a possible crash site, although American planes were not allowed to fly over Switzerland at the time. Rather by chance, the wreck of an American B-29 was sighted during an overflight to Munich from an altitude of 5000 meters and by a Swiss C-36 at a lower altitude between the Rosenhorn and the Wetterhorn .

The father of the unfortunate pilot, General Ralph Tate , was involved in the search in the B-29; he was also the first to see the crashed machine.

rescue

After the scene of the accident was known, the largest rescue operation in the Alps to date began. The Americans sent a special train from Tarvisio with 150 mountain fighters from the 88th US Division with ambulances, jeeps and weasels through the Simplon tunnel to Switzerland. They were not adequately prepared for a mountain rescue in snow, ice and bad weather.

American and Swiss planes dropped aid packages at the wreck. Most of the packages ended up in crevasses or other inaccessible places. When a thrown sack of coal hit a wing of the wreck, the casualties asked for the dropping to be stopped by means of writing in the snow (FINI), as they feared that the cabin of the wreck, which was used as a shelter, could be damaged.

Fieseler stork with runners.
One of the aircraft involved in the rescue had the registration number A-97.

During a further reconnaissance flight it was noticed that the accident machine was not north-west but south of the Rosenhorn on the upper part of the Gauli Glacier. This extended the approach of the Swiss rescue team, which had already started from Rosenlaui , by several hours. On November 23 at 2:20 p.m., two Swiss men (the later famous mountaineer Ernst Reiss and another soldier) reached the victims after a 13-hour march on skis. It was too late to march back with the victims on the same day; the helpers were also too weak for that. Therefore they had the aircraft at -15 ° C bivouac . On November 24, from 8 o'clock began the descent towards Gaulihütte . A radio link with the valley still failed. Shortly before 10:30 a.m., two pilots of the Swiss Air Force managed to land with two Fieseler Storch machines with runners on the landing gear (see picture opposite) next to the rescue teams on the uppermost glacier plateau (height above sea level: 2850 meters) Picture no. 10 in the article The miracle of the Gauligletscher shows. With nine flights, the twelve casualties - only one seriously injured - were flown into the valley. This is considered to be the birth of alpine air rescue. The American aircraft crew tried, presumably for reasons of secrecy due to military service regulations, to destroy the wrecked aircraft when leaving, which was prevented by the Swiss soldiers. Film recordings and photos were also made during the rescue operation. Since the USA could not get back or salvage the aircraft wreck, they gave it to Switzerland.

consequences

Immediately after the World War, diplomatic relations between Switzerland and the USA were disrupted. This bailout sparked a storm of excitement in the US and turned political opinion. Many international media followed the Swiss rescue operation with reporters on site. Anglo-Saxon media were amazed at the unselfish efforts of the Swiss to rescue twelve Americans.

The rescue operation on the Gauligletscher was a pioneering achievement born out of necessity and marks the beginning of alpine air rescue . The Swiss Air Rescue Service was founded in 1952 .

Shortly after the rescue operation, the wreck of the DC-3 was completely snowed in; the snow later turned to ice. The parts that have become free since the glacier melted are dismantled each time before they are removed. Some parts were salvaged by the Swiss Army in the summer of 1947 . Loose parts to be found today could have come from the crew's attempt to destroy the aircraft after the rescue operations began, which was suppressed by the Swiss rescuers, or could have been detached from the decades of action by the glacier ice.

An investigation has been opened against pilot Ralph Tate. He was sentenced to a sentence by a US military tribunal for violating air service regulations. He was guilty of not following the flight route submitted and of misunderstanding his elevation map. He kept his rank and pilot's license. He later became a major in the Military Air Transport Staff.

memory

One of the propellers released by the ice is exhibited in the village center of Grimseltor in Innertkirchen .

On July 27, 2012, wreckage of the DC-3 was discovered on the Gauli Glacier. In the summer of 2018, the warm summer melted large debris on the glacier. Around two tons of it, including a motor with a propeller, were recovered by the Swiss Air Force and are to be exhibited later.

On May 13, 2017, the Fieseler Storch flew over the Gauligletscher with the registration A-99. The plan was to land on the glacier by plane. This was not done due to diffuse lighting conditions and in July 2017 the aircraft was damaged on a landing in the canton of Zurich. The club that operates the aircraft also owns the original Storch A-97, which was actually there during the rescue on the Gauli glacier and was seen in the Swiss Museum of Transport for 50 years after it was decommissioned before it was revised to be airworthy. In 2018 the original Storch A-97 flew to Meiringen for the first time and could be seen there together with the Storch A-99. The operators hoped to be able to fly to the Gauli glacier and land there the following year.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Roger Cornioley : The plane crash of an American Dakota on the Gauli Glacier in November 1946 (pdf, 41 pages).
  2. ↑ a b c Der Bund of September 18, 2018, pages 1 and 21: In one picture, u. a. an engine dismantled from a stranded aircraft with two propeller blades bent by the resistance of the snow masses and one broken off. See also here
  3. ^ Roger Cornioley: The plane crash (...), p.12o
  4. ↑ Roger Cornioley: The plane crash (...), p. 150
  5. ^ Roger Cornioley: The plane crash (...), p. 3
  6. ^ Roger Cornioley: The plane crash (...), page 8
  7. ↑ The miracle of the Gauli Glacier . SWI swissinfo.ch. May 4, 2011. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  8. ↑ Roger Cornioley: The plane crash (...), p. 150
  9. ↑ Roger Cornioley: The plane crash (...), p. 139
  10. ↑ 20 minutes: These are the remains of the US Dakota C53 machine. Film report from August 16, 2018 7:41 PM.
  11. ↑ t-online.de: 72 years after the crash - Swiss army hides aircraft. September 17, 2018, 6:57 p.m.
  12. ↑ Wrecked aircraft recovered after 72 years. In: Luxemburger Wort . 18th September 2018.
  13. ↑ Back in the air. Stork on skis. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . 22nd November 2016.
  14. ↑ The A-97 returned to Oberhasli. In: Berner Zeitung. June 12, 2018.

Coordinates: 46 ° 37 '20.5 "  N , 8 ° 8' 42"  E ; CH1903:  654,100  /  one hundred sixty-three thousand six hundred and ninety-nine