1937 Beert KLM Douglas DC-2 crash
Douglas DC-2 · In-flight fire following explosion; cause undetermined
From Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) to Paris, France
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
- 15 · 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
- Airline
Douglas DC-2
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-2
- 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
- PH-ALF
- Operator
- KLM
- Onboard fatalities
- 15
- Route
- From Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)To Paris, France
Approximate · Estimated position: Halle, Belgium, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The Beert KLM Douglas DC-2 crash occurred on 28 July 1937, when a KLM Douglas DC-2 aircraft named Flamingo (registration PH-ALF) crashed shortly after takeoff from Brussels, Belgium, following an in-flight fire. The aircraft went down in a potato field near Beert, Pepingen close to Halle, southwest of Brussels.
All 15 people on board were killed, including Dutch socialist Nathan Nathans.
The crash resulted in awereness of transporting flammable goods, including flammable film equipment. Non-flammable interior materials and paints were introduced inside aircraft and the KLM made several aircraft modifications to the installation to reduce the risk of fire.
In the following decades, the crash was remembered as one of the most severe aviation accidents in Dutch history.
Accident
On 28 July 1937, the aircraft was operating a scheduled KLM service from Schiphol Airport to Paris, with a planned intermediate stop at Brussels. The flight departed Schiphol Airport at 9:20 with a crew of four and two passengers on board. Upon arrival at Evere Airport in Brussels, nine additional passengers boarded the aircraft, having arrived from Cologne, Germany, while the two original passengers remained on board.
At approximately 10:30 local time, the aircraft departed Brussels for the final leg to Paris. Weather conditions were not considered severe, although rain showers were present in the area.
Shortly after takeoff, when the aircraft had reached an altitude of approximately 400 metres, an explosion is believed to have occurred. Witness accounts and later investigation indicated that the aircraft caught fire while still airborne. At approximately 10:40, the burning aircraft crashed into a potato field near the railway station at Beert. The crash site was located slightly southwest of Brussels, near the town of Halle.
All 15 occupants, consisting of four crew members and eleven passengers, were killed in the accident.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1937 Beert KLM Douglas DC-2 crash” (revision 1369824358, 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: 1937 Beert KLM Douglas DC-2 crash
- Revision
- 1369824358 · 2026-08-17 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q140627408
- 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 "1937 Beert KLM Douglas DC-2 crash" (page 82846886, revision 1369824358)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata 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 is an airline according to Wikidata
- 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.