1946 shootdown of a Douglas C-47A over Yugoslavia
United States Army Air Force C-47A · Shootdown
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
- 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
C-47A
- 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
- United States Army Air Force
- Onboard fatalities
- 5
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Approximate · Estimated position: Bled, the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The shootdown of a Douglas C-47A over Yugoslavia occurred on 19 August 1946 over the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, a constituent state of SFR Yugoslavia. In this momentous incident of the early Cold War, all five crew members were killed.
Sequence of events
A United States Army Air Force (USAAF) military transport aircraft of the type Douglas C-47A-25 Skytrain (USAAF serial number: 42-93450) was en route from Langenlebarn/Vienna via Udine in northern Italy to Rome. It belonged to the 305th Troop Carrier Squadron and was on a military mail flight.
At the time the USA maintained a military base in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and arriving and departing transport aircraft shuttled regularly between Vienna and Udine. In doing so they are said to have frequently taken unauthorised shortcuts over Slovenian territory.
On 19 August, according to US statements, an unarmed C-47A strayed off course because of poor weather conditions and entered Yugoslav airspace. There the aircraft was intercepted by two Yugoslav Yakovlev Yak-3 fighter aircraft and fired upon, allegedly without sufficient warnings having been given. The C-47A caught fire and crashed in flames into a wooded area near the Slovenian town of Bled. The aircraft was destroyed on impact and all occupants were killed.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Abschuss einer Douglas C-47A in Jugoslawien 1946” (revision 269356409, 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: Abschuss einer Douglas C-47A in Jugoslawien 1946
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 269356409 · 2026-08-03 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q140428574
- 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 "Abschuss einer Douglas C-47A in Jugoslawien 1946" (page 13874526, revision 269356409), 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.