FLIGHT FINDINGSAVIATION OCCURRENCE MAP
Back to map

1956 Kano Airport BOAC Argonaut crash

24 Jun 1956 · Kano Airport, Nigeria

British Overseas Airways Canadair C-4 Argonaut · Crashed on take-off following encounter with microburst

From Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (KAN) to Tripoli International Airport (Idris Airport), Libya

Report a problem

Event

Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
Event fatalities
32 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
45
Survivors
13
InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
4
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Airline

Canadair C-4 Argonaut

Aircraft type
Canadair C-4
Category
Airplane · from aircraft type
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
G-ALHE
Onboard fatalities
32
Route
From Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (KAN)To Tripoli International Airport (Idris Airport), Libya

Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.

From the Wikipedia article

On 24 June 1956, a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) four-engined Canadair C-4 Argonaut airliner crashed into a tree on departure from Kano Airport in Nigeria, three crew and 29 passengers were killed.

Crash

At 17:21 the Argonaut departed Runway 25 at Kano Airport on the way to Tripoli in Libya. The flight was from Lagos to London and had made a scheduled stop at Kano. It was raining as the aircraft reached 250 ft when the aircraft began to lose height. The pilot applied full power but the aircraft continued to descend until it hit a tree about 1+1/2 mi from the end of the runway. Three of the seven crew members and 29 of the 38 passengers were killed in the crash, two crew and two passengers were seriously injured.

Investigation and cause

Investigation

A team from the British Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation and BOAC flew out from London on 25 June in a chartered Canadair Argonaut to help in the investigation. The Nigerian investigation team of four was led by the Director of Civil Aviation.

Text from the Wikipedia article “1956 Kano Airport BOAC Argonaut crash” (revision 1339305420, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article

Sources

Wikipedia article: 1956 Kano Airport BOAC Argonaut crash
Article
1956 Kano Airport BOAC Argonaut crash
Revision
1339305420 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q4568652
Licence
Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
Record
Wikipedia article "1956 Kano Airport BOAC Argonaut crash" (page 30740266, revision 1339305420)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
Wikipedia article coordinates
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
operator named as an airline in the infobox
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.