Superga air disaster

The Superga air disaster (Tragedia di Superga, "Tragedy of Superga") occurred on 4 May 1949, when a Fiat G.212 airliner of Avio Linee Italiane, carrying the entire Torino football team (popularly known as the Grande Torino), crashed into the retaining wall at the back of the Basilica of Superga, which stands on a hilltop near Turin, Italy. All thirty-one people on board were killed.

Background

The Avio Linee Italiane Fiat G.212CP was carrying the team home from Lisbon, where they had played a friendly match with S.L. Benfica in honour of the Portuguese captain, Francisco Ferreira. In the incident, the whole active Torino team (almost all of whom were also members of the Italy national football team) lost their lives. Club officials including the manager, Ernő Egri Erbstein, a Hungarian refugee, and the head coach, Englishman Leslie Lievesley, also perished in the accident, as well as the crew of the aircraft and three well-known Italian sports journalists: Renato Casalbore (founder of Tuttosport); Renato Tosatti (the Gazzetta del Popolo, father of Giorgio Tosatti), and Luigi Cavallero (La Stampa). The task of identifying the bodies was entrusted to the former manager of the Italy national team, Vittorio Pozzo, who had called up most of Torino's players to the Azzurri.

The full-back Sauro Tomà did not take part in the trip due to an injured meniscus, nor did the reserve goalkeeper, Renato Gandolfi (the third goalkeeper, Dino Ballarin, took his place). Radio commentator Nicolò Carosio, Luigi Giuliano (captain of the Torino youth team), and former manager of the Italy national team Vittorio Pozzo, were excluded for various reasons. Torino's president, Ferruccio Novo, also did not go on the trip because he was ill with influenza.

Crash

The three-engined Fiat G.212, with aircraft registration I-ELCE, of Avio Linee Italiane, took off from Lisbon at 09:40 a.m. on Wednesday, 4 May 1949. The commander of the aircraft was Lieutenant Colonel Meroni. The flight landed at the airport in Barcelona at 13:00. While the aircraft was refuelled during the stopover, Torino met for lunch with Milan, who were on their way to Madrid.

At 14:50, I-ELCE set off for the Turin-Aeritalia Airport. The flight's route was to take it over Cap de Creus, Toulon, Nice, Albenga, and Savona. Above Savona, the plane turned north, in the direction of the capital of Piedmont, where it was expected to arrive in 30 minutes. The weather in Turin was poor; at 16:55, the airport of Turin Aeritalia communicated the weather situation to the pilot: clouds almost touching the ground, showers, strong southwest wind gusts, and very poor horizontal visibility (40 m).

At this point, the tower asked for the pilot's position. After a few minutes of silence (at 16:59) came the reply: "Quota 2,000 m. QDM on Pino, then we will cut at Superga". At Pino Torinese, which is located between Chieri and Baldissero Torinese, southeast of Turin, there was a VHF direction finder, to provide a QDM (magnetic course to be taken on a head-on approach as a radio aid) on request.

On approach, the plane lined up with the runway at Aeritalia about 9 mi away to the west, at 305 m above sea level, with Pino at 290° off its nose. Just north of Pino Torinese was the Basilica of Superga, situated on a hill at 669 m above sea level. One theory for the deviation is that due to the strong left crosswinds, the plane could have suffered a drift to starboard, which shifted from the axis of descent and lined up with the hill of Superga. Recent investigations also suggested the possibility that the altimeter had malfunctioned and locked at 2000 m, which led the pilots to believe that they were at a higher altitude.

At 17:03, the plane made a turn to the left, returned to level flight, and had aligned to prepare for landing when it crashed into the back of the embankment of the Basilica of Superga. The pilot, who likely believed that the Superga hill was off to his right, would have seen it suddenly emerge directly in front of him (speed 180 km/h, visibility 40 m) and been unable to react. The wreckage did not give any indication of an attempt to go around. The only part of the aircraft which remained partially intact was the empennage.

At 17:05, Aeritalia Tower called I-ELCE, but received no response. All of the 31 people on board were killed.

Flight crew

Cesare Biancardi, co-pilot

Celestino D'Inca, engineer

Pierluigi Meroni, pilot

Antonio Pangrazi, radio operator