1955 Altensteig mid-air collision
United States Air Force Fairchild C-119G Flying Boxcar and United States Air Force Fairchild C-119G Flying Boxcar · Mid-air collision
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
- 66 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- 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
- Military
Aircraft 1 · Fairchild C-119G Flying Boxcar
- Aircraft type
- Fairchild C-119
- 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
- 53-3222
- Operator
- United States Air Force
- Onboard fatalities
- 19
- Occupants
- Not stated
- 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
- None · no survivors
- Route
- From Stuttgart Airport (STR)To Stuttgart Airport (STR)
Aircraft 2 · Fairchild C-119G Flying Boxcar
- Aircraft type
- Fairchild C-119
- 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
- 53-7841
- Operator
- United States Air Force
- Onboard fatalities
- 47
- Occupants
- Not stated
- 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
- None · no survivors
- Route
- From Stuttgart Airport (STR)To Stuttgart Airport (STR)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
The Altensteig mid-air collision occurred on 11 August 1955 when two United States Air Force Fairchild C-119G Flying Boxcars collided and crashed three miles from Altensteig in West Germany. The aircraft were part of a formation of nine C-119s flying a training mission from Stuttgart-Echterdingen airfield, West Germany with troops from the United States Seventh Army. With all 66 on board both aircraft killed, it was, at the time, the deadliest air crash in Germany.
Accident
Just after 14:00 one of the aircraft on the right of a formation of three developed engine problems just after takeoff, when it was around 4,000 feet; it lost height, then climbed abruptly into the second aircraft, colliding in mid-air. The first aircraft, serial number 53-7841, crashed and disintegrated with the loss of all 19 on board. The second aircraft 53-3222 continued for a while before it also crashed about 30 miles from Stuttgart in a wooded area and burst into flames, killing all 47 on board.
Helicopters were sent to the scene, supported by fire engines and people from local villages to help with the search for survivors, none were found and the fireman were still fighting the blaze into the evening.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1955 Altensteig mid-air collision” (revision 1339309377, 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: 1955 Altensteig mid-air collision
- Revision
- 1339309377 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q15697985
- 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 "1955 Altensteig mid-air collision" (page 41706095, revision 1339309377)
- 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 armed force or military unit in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: total_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.