CH-47 helicopter crash near Pegnitz
United States Army Europe and Africa Boeing CH-47 Chinook · Technical defects
From Ludwigsburg Army Airfield to Grafenwöhr Training Area
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
- 37 · 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
Boeing CH-47 Chinook
- Aircraft type
- Boeing CH-47
- Category
- Helicopter · 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
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- 37
- Route
- From Ludwigsburg Army AirfieldTo Grafenwöhr Training Area
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft handling/service
- Aircraft › Aircraft propeller/rotor
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Pegnitz (town), the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
In the crash of a CH-47 helicopter near Pegnitz on 18 August 1971, 37 US soldiers were killed when a Boeing CH-47A tandem-rotor transport helicopter crashed near the BAB 9 service area "Fränkische Schweiz-Pegnitz Ost". There were no survivors of this serious accident.
Flight
The Boeing CH-47A No. 66-19023, built in 1966, with a crew of four, belonged to the Fourth Aviation Battalion of the 15th Aviation Group, stationed at Dolan Barracks near Schwäbisch Hall. Transported from Ludwigsburg Army Airfield (today's Pattonville airfield) were 33 soldiers of the M30 (mortar) section, Heavy Mortar Platoon, Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment from Wilkin Barracks (Hindenburgkaserne) in Kornwestheim.
When the aircraft, on its way to the Grafenwöhr Training Area, was near Pegnitz at 9:45, according to eyewitness reports the rear rotor broke off while the front one was still turning. The aircraft came down from a height of approx. 180 m approx. 500 m east of the A9 near Pegnitz. Local residents alerted the fire brigade. But all help came too late, as all 37 occupants died in the accident.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The cause of the accident was determined to be that a rotor blade which had already been discarded due to technical defects had, through an error, been delivered again and installed. As a result of a fatigue fracture, this blade struck the fuselage of the helicopter, which then broke apart.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Absturz eines Hubschraubers CH-47 bei Pegnitz” (revision 269735182, 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: Absturz eines Hubschraubers CH-47 bei Pegnitz
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 269735182 · 2026-08-17 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q108908679
- 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 "Absturz eines Hubschraubers CH-47 bei Pegnitz" (page 11956986, revision 269735182), 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: aircraft 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.