Bremerhaven mid-air collision (1987)
German Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and German Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II · Mid-air collision
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
- 2 · 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
- Military
Aircraft 1 · McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
- Aircraft type
- McDonnell Douglas F-4
- 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
- 37+27
- Operator
- German Air Force
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Wittmundhafen Air Base (ETNT)To Wittmundhafen Air Base (ETNT)
Aircraft 2 · McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
- Aircraft type
- McDonnell Douglas F-4
- 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
- 38+15
- Operator
- German Air Force
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Not stated
- Survivors
- 2
- 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
- Not stated
- Route
- From Wittmundhafen Air Base (ETNT)To Wittmundhafen Air Base (ETNT)
Approximate · Estimated position: Langen, Cuxhaven, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
During an air combat training flight on 24 March 1987, two McDonnell F-4F Phantoms of the Luftwaffe collided over the village of Langen north of Bremerhaven. Both aircraft crashed onto agricultural land. The crew of one of the two aircraft was fatally injured in the accident.
Sequence of events
Two Phantom fighter aircraft of Jagdgeschwader 71 "Richthofen" took off from Wittmundhafen military airfield on the morning of 24 March 1987 on a training flight into TRA 201 South (TRA: ). This restricted flight area is a closed military training airspace which extends at medium altitude between flight levels 80 and 240 over the East Frisian peninsula and the coastal North Sea as far as the Elbe. The flight order provided for air combat training between two fighter aircraft. The collision occurred during one of the air combat manoeuvres. Both aircraft were so badly damaged that they were no longer airworthy.
The crew of one aircraft were able to escape using their ejection seats; the other crew suffered fatal injuries in the collision. Both aircraft crashed into open fields not far from the village of Langen, a few kilometres north of Bremerhaven.
Since an accident during Luftwaffe air combat training had already occurred in the region two years earlier, in which several people and civilian infrastructure on the ground were harmed, this new accident sparked a political debate about the necessity and dangers of military flight operations over populated areas.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugzeugkollision bei Bremerhaven (1987)” (revision 269735400, 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: Flugzeugkollision bei Bremerhaven (1987)
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 269735400 · 2026-08-17 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q106921409
- 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 "Flugzeugkollision bei Bremerhaven (1987)" (page 11789289, revision 269735400), translated into English with AI assistance
- 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 named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- 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.