Republic F-84 crash in Darmstadt
United States Air Force Republic F-84 Thunderjet · Three people were killed in an aircraft crash in Darmstadt on 11 March 1952
From Fürstenfeldbruck to an unrecorded destination
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
- 5 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 2
- 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
- Military
Republic F-84 Thunderjet
- Aircraft type
- Republic F-84
- 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
- 49-2313
- Operator
- United States Air Force
- Onboard fatalities
- 3
- Route
- From FürstenfeldbruckTo not recorded
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Three people were killed in an aircraft crash in Darmstadt on 11 March 1952.
Sequence of events
A squadron of US Air Force Republic F-84 jet fighters took off from Fürstenfeldbruck airfield on 11 March 1952 on a flight in the direction of Darmstadt. One of the aircraft broke away from the formation and plunged downwards in a left turn. The noise of the crashing aircraft caused many people present to take cover. The aircraft crossed the high-voltage power line and the Tann housing estate at low altitude from a south-easterly direction. The aircraft was trailing a plume of smoke behind it.
The pilot, Robert F. Thorton, ejected from the crashing aircraft with the ejection seat. The pilot hit the ground on the Lengefeldschneise approximately one kilometre from the aircraft's crash site. He was fatally injured. His parachute had probably not opened.
The aircraft struck the property at Rheinstraße 322 in the Tann housing estate at 10:36 and exploded immediately. A coach house and the property's garden were destroyed. Debris lay on the Bundesstraße 26 Rheinstraße approximately 50 metres away, and the tram's overhead line had been torn down. Debris from the crashed aircraft was found up to approximately 600 metres away.
On the ground, the 54-year-old postal inspector Alfred Langohr was killed. The Griesheim wood cutter August Meyer, who was also present, suffered life-threatening head injuries and severe burns and died a few days later from the injuries he had sustained. The cause of the accident is not known.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugzeugabsturz einer Republic F-84 in Darmstadt” (revision 269733625, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Flugzeugabsturz einer Republic F-84 in Darmstadt
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 269733625 · 2026-08-17 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q76337248
- 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
- de Wikipedia article "Flugzeugabsturz einer Republic F-84 in Darmstadt" (page 11044038, revision 269733625), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from Wikidata (P17)
- 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 plus ground fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: ground fatalities
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.