1951 mass crash of Ilyushin Il-10s near Kemlitz
Soviet Air Forces Ilyushin Il-10M (more than 13 identical aircraft) · A mass crash of Ilyushin Il-10s near Kemlitz in 1951 occurred on 14 April 1951
From Reinsdorf military airfield to Reinsdorf military airfield
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
- 26 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- Unknown
- 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
Ilyushin Il-10M (more than 13 identical aircraft)
- Aircraft type
- Ilyushin IL-10
- 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
- Unknown
- Operator
- Soviet Air Forces
- Onboard fatalities
- 26
- Route
- From Reinsdorf military airfieldTo Reinsdorf military airfield
Cause areas
- Not determined › Not determined
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Kemlitz (Dahme/Mark), near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
A mass crash of Ilyushin Il-10s near Kemlitz in 1951 occurred on 14 April 1951. On that day a large number of Ilyushin Il-10M military aircraft of the Soviet Air Forces crashed near Kemlitz in adverse weather conditions. While the crews of some aircraft managed crash landings, the crashes of 13 aircraft claimed a total of 26 lives.
Accident sequence
The aircraft, which belonged to the 16th Air Army of the Soviet Air Forces, were on their way to a formation exercise that was to take place at a training area in the Lieberose Heath used as an air-to-ground and rocket firing range.
Investigation and cause
Possible causes
The causes of the crashes could never be established. A number of hypotheses were put forward, such as the use of very inexperienced crews, refuelling of the aircraft with faulty or contaminated fuel, deliberate tampering with the aircraft or a failed mass escape to the West, but none of these could be proven.
The officers in charge had reportedly known that a dangerous weather situation was building up over the area in which their airmen were to practise. Marshal Vershinin, commander of the 24th Air Army, had finally ordered the take-off, reasoning that he, after all, had also flown in the war and in even worse weather.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Massenabsturz von Iljuschin Il-10 bei Kemlitz 1951” (revision 265535650, 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: Massenabsturz von Iljuschin Il-10 bei Kemlitz 1951
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 265535650 · 2026-03-23 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q116701976
- 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 "Massenabsturz von Iljuschin Il-10 bei Kemlitz 1951" (page 12548170, revision 265535650), 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.