Bremerhaven mid-air collision (1985)

During an air combat training flight on 31 January 1985, two McDonnell F-4F Phantoms of the Luftwaffe collided over Bremerhaven. One aircraft crashed onto uninhabited ground, the second onto the hall of a container repair company. One crew member and one employee of the company were killed. In addition, five workers of the company suffered injuries, some of them serious.

Sequence of events

Three Phantom fighter aircraft of Jagdgeschwader 71 "Richthofen" took off from Wittmund around midday on 31 January 1985 on a training flight. As part of the training programme, air combat exercises were planned in TRA 201 South, a restricted military training airspace at medium altitude between flight level 80 and flight level 240, located over northern Lower Saxony and the coastal North Sea. On this training flight, two attackers were to take turns engaging, in simulation, the third aircraft acting as the target. During one of the exercise runs, a collision occurred between two of the three aircraft. These aircraft were so badly damaged that they were no longer airworthy.

Both crews initiated an ejection-seat escape. This was successful for both pilots and for one of the two weapon systems officers. In the case of the second weapon systems officer, damage caused by the collision prevented the escape sequence from functioning properly.

The aircraft (Lfz.) with the tactical marking 37+99 crashed onto a sandbank in the mudflats of the Weser estuary off Burhave; the aircraft with the tactical marking 37+95 crashed onto the hall of the container repair company Tiemann in Bremerhaven-Speckenbüttel.

The weapon systems officer of 37+95 and a worker in the container workshop were killed when the aircraft impacted, and five other workers of the company were injured, some of them seriously.

The third Phantom returned undamaged to Wittmund.