Air France Flight 406
Lockheed L-1649 Starliner · Bombing in flight
From Brazzaville, Congo to Marseille Provence Airport (MRS)
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
- 78 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 78
- Survivors
- 0
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Lockheed L-1649 Starliner
- Aircraft type
- Lockheed L-1649
- 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
- F-BHBM
- Operator
- Air France
- Onboard fatalities
- 78
- Route
- From Brazzaville, CongoTo Marseille Provence Airport (MRS)
Approximate · Estimated position: Debdeb, the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
Air France Flight 406 was a Lockheed L-1649 Starliner that crashed in French Algeria on May 10, 1961, after a bomb exploded on board. All 78 passengers and crew on board were killed. It was the deadliest aviation disaster involving a Lockheed Starliner.
Flight
Air France Flight 406 was an international scheduled passenger flight originating in Brazzaville, Congo, on a route with the final destination Marignane Airport, France. Intermediate stops were Fort Lamy, Chad, and Marseille, France. The flight was flown by a Lockheed L-1649 Starliner, F-BHBM De Grasse.
After taking off from Fort Lamy, and while cruising at an altitude of approximately 20,000 ft, the Starliner broke up after its empennage failed. The plane crashed to earth approximately 35 mi from Edjele oilfield, near the Libya border. All aboard Flight 406 were killed.
Eighteen children were among the dead. Among them were the three young children of the United States Charge d'Affaires in the Central African Republic, who, along with their mother (the charge's wife), were on Flight 406 headed for London. Also among the dead were a count and countess, plus two Central African Republic government ministers. Rumors began to surface after Flight 406's crash that it had been an assassination by enemies of the Central African Republic.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The most probable cause of Air France Flight 406 crashing was sabotage with a nitrocellulose explosive. The motive for the bombing remains unclear, as no one was arrested, caught, or owned up to being the bomber.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Air France Flight 406” (revision 1372702973, 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: Air France Flight 406
- Article
- Air France Flight 406
- Revision
- 1372702973 · 2026-09-01 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4697994
- 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 "Air France Flight 406" (page 36509802, revision 1372702973)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata coordinates); the article's coordinates are given only to the whole degree
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- flight number in the article title
- 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.