Air crash of General Štefánik

Official investigation

By today's standards of air accident investigation, the investigation at that time was very simple and brief. Somewhat paradoxically, it was not led by the Czechoslovak authorities. An investigation commission headed by Maj. Francesco Veca was appointed by Italian military officials, and the day after the crash the commander of the 1st Air Squadron, Capt. Federico Zapelloni, arrived in Bratislava with the task of carrying out the necessary investigations on site. He therefore examined the wreckage, heard witnesses and familiarised himself with the autopsy findings. According to these, Štefánik had, among other things, broken legs, a fractured base of the skull and a torn-off heart.

The following day he issued a report on the crash. In the report he ruled out the influence of the weather, a machine failure and pilot error by the Italian airmen. The reasons that led him to this are astonishing from today's point of view: for example, he argues that pilot error "is incompatible with the abilities of the fallen pilots". He further states that no traces of gunfire were found on the aircraft or on the victims. On the basis of these assumptions he proposed two possible causes:

The radio antenna became entangled in the controls in such a way that it prevented movement of the elevator. The antenna wire, however, was not found at the crash site. However, the following communication was recorded in the log. It is necessary to land – Yes, the wire has snapped – Radio – Where will we land – In Vienna – We should have landed in Vienna.

According to the medical report, Štefánik was in the left pilot's seat at the moment of the crash. The report also states that before departure he himself had asked for the opportunity to fly the aircraft. The investigator knew that his "delicate" state of health had deteriorated greatly recently and that he fainted even several times a day. So if he had been sitting at the control stick and fainted, his limp body could have fallen onto the control column and pushed it forward. The result would have been the aircraft going into a steep descent followed after a few seconds by impact with the terrain. The second pilot would not have been able to pull back his stick against Štefánik's weight (the two sticks are mechanically linked).

Although both versions sound plausible, doubts about the objectivity of the investigation appeared practically from the beginning. There was a suspicion that the report had been formulated so as to preserve the good name of both the Italian manufacturer and the military pilots. In addition, suspicions began to spread about a deliberate shooting down of the aircraft. For this reason, after 7 years the Czechoslovak authorities finally opened their own investigation, in which a shot from the rifle of Private Meško was indeed confirmed, but which gives a sudden gust of wind as the probable cause of the crash.