1925 KLM Fokker F.III Forêt de Mormal crash

On 25 June 1925, KLM-owned Fokker F.III H-NABM was a passenger flight from Schiphol Airport, the Netherlands to Paris, France. Due to bad weather, it struck trees in the Forêt de Mormal and crashed. The pilot and all three passengers were killed.

It was the second fatal KLM accident after the 1924 KLM Fokker F.III disappearance.

Due to the impact of the crash, there were expectations that there would be a decrease in airplane tickets; not only for KLM but in general. The crash caused a public discussion about airliner insurance.

The crash is one of the most important events in the history of the region Locquignol, and was memorized still 100 years after the crash.

Background

The crash was in the very early era of international passenger flights, that started in August 1919. The involved airplane was among the biggest passengers airplanes of that era.

Flight and crash

On 24 April 1924 the Fokker F.III H-NABK started the twice daily KLM-operated international passenger flight from Schiphol Airport, the Netherlands via Waalhaven airport, Rotterdam, the Netherlands to Le Bourget, Paris, France. The plane departed at 9am (local time) from Schiphol Airport. At Waalhaven the H-NABK was replaced by the H-NABM. The plane departed from Waalhaven in time at 9:53 am (local time) with three passengers and 22kg of mail.

The weather forecast was good, so there was no need to cancel the flight or to fly via Brussels. However, near the Belgian-French border there was very bad weather. Due to the clouds, the pilot had to fly lower and lower to maintain visibility of the ground. The route to Paris in Northern France was along the Forêt de Mormal, a hilly area terrain with dense forests. During the passage, the pilot deviated slightly, around 6 kilometers. There the clouds hung very low, so low that higher parts that reaches 150 metres, of the forest were no longer visible. Witnesses later stated that judging the sound of the airplane, the plane was circling and they believed the pilot was trying to get a ground view. This assumption was later confirmed by experts during the investigation. The experts assumed that Klunder must have not been aware that he was flying so low over trees at a higher part of the forest. He made a sharp turn to the right suddenly after seeing trees. A wing hit trees and the aircraft turned over, turned upside down and flew into the forest at an angle of 30 to 40 degrees. The accident happened at 11:30 am (local time).

The trail of broken trees was approximately 40 meters long, the Siddeley Puma engine (no. 6898) had even snapped off a large tree. The airplane was completely destroyed and the four occupants must have been killed instantly. Debris was spread over 100 square meters. Lumberjacks who saw the airplane above the forest and shortly after in a sudden dive, started searching for the aircraft. The wreck was found at 3pm (local time). Later, forest rangers and police arrived at the disaster site. The bodies of the occupants were much mutilated and taken out of the airplane or found among the debris.

Crash site location

In most sources the location of the crash site is listed incorrectly. Landrecies, a town 30 kilometres away is often mentioned as the crash location. However, after investigation by amateur aviation historian Herman Dekker in 2006 including conversations with the local authorities, it turned out that the entire Forêt de Mormal, including the crash site, is located in the municipality of Locquignol.