1960 Munich C-131 crash
Third Air Force, United States Air Force Convair C-131D (CV-340) · Take-off failure
From Munich-Riem Airport to RAF Northolt (NHT)
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
- 52 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 32
- 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
- 20 · all on the ground
- 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
Convair C-131D (CV-340)
- Aircraft type
- Convair C-131
- 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
- 55-0291
- Onboard fatalities
- 20
- Route
- From Munich-Riem AirportTo RAF Northolt (NHT)
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Fluids/misc hardware
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 17 December 1960, a Convair C-131D Samaritan operated by the United States Air Force on a flight from Munich to RAF Northolt crashed shortly after take-off from Munich-Riem Airport, due to fuel contamination. All 20 passengers and crew on board as well as 32 people on the ground were killed.
Accident
On 17 December 1960, the Samaritan was due to fly from Munich-Riem airport in Germany to RAF Northolt in the United Kingdom with 13 passengers and 7 crew. Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft lost power to one of its two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engines. Unable to maintain altitude and with bad visibility due to fog, it hit the 318 ft steeple of St. Paul's Church next to the Oktoberfest site (then vacant) in the Ludwigsvorstadt borough. Subsequently, at 2:10 PM, it crashed into a crowded two-section Munich tramway car on Martin-Greif-Straße, close to Bayerstraße.
All 13 passengers and 7 crew members on the plane died. 32 people on the ground were killed and 20 were injured. A section of the wing crashed through the roof of a building at Hermann-Lingg-Straße, a block away from the main accident site, without injuring anybody there. The Free Lance-Star, a daily newspaper for Fredricksburg and its surrounding areas, reported that some passengers on the Convair were holiday-bound University of Maryland students who were dependents of military personnel stationed in England.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
A crash investigation revealed water in the fuel tank booster pump. Because water is more dense than fuel it can settle to the bottom of the tank, into the pump inlets; when it freezes it blocks inlets and deprives the engine of fuel. This deprivation of fuel caused the Munich C-131 to lose power and eventually shut down the engine.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1960 Munich C-131 crash” (revision 1340403746, 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: 1960 Munich C-131 crash
- Article
- 1960 Munich C-131 crash
- Revision
- 1340403746 · 2026-02-25 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q1434101
- 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 "1960 Munich C-131 crash" (page 4511298, revision 1340403746)
- 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
- Wikipedia infobox: ground fatalities
- 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.