1945 Beiping C-46 crash
United States Army Air Forces Curtiss C-46F-1-CU Commando · Collision with radio antenna in poor visibility during approach
From Hankou to Beijing Nanyuan Airport (NAY)
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
- 59 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 59
- 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
Curtiss C-46F-1-CU Commando
- Aircraft type
- Curtiss C-46
- 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
- 44-78591
- Operator
- United States Army Air Forces
- Onboard fatalities
- 59
- Route
- From HankouTo Beijing Nanyuan Airport (NAY)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
The 1945 Beiping C-46 crash was a fatal aviation accident involving a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Curtiss C-46 Commando that occurred on 16 October 1945 near Beiping (now Beijing), Republic of China. The aircraft was operating a military transport flight from Hankou to Nanyuan Airport when it crashed during its approach, killing all 59 people on board.
Accident
On 16 October 1945 at approximately 11:30 local time, the aircraft was approaching Nanyuan Airport following a flight from Hankou. During the descent, the crew encountered poor visibility, with low cloud cover reported at around 300 feet.
Approximately 25 kilometres northwest of the airport, the aircraft struck a radio antenna estimated to be about 300 metres tall and crashed into a field. All 59 occupants on board, including four crew members and 55 passengers, were killed in the accident.
The crash was attributed to controlled flight into terrain caused by poor visibility. Reports indicated that the flight crew were likely unaware of the presence of the antenna, as it was not marked on available navigation charts.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1945 Beiping C-46 crash” (revision 1344933655, 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: 1945 Beiping C-46 crash
- Article
- 1945 Beiping C-46 crash
- Revision
- 1344933655 · 2026-03-23 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q137375915
- 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 "1945 Beiping C-46 crash" (page 41954533, revision 1344933655)
- 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: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (2)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.
- The Russian Wikipedia article on this crash dates it 12 October 1945; the English article (used here) gives 16 October 1945.