1945 crash of the Fw 200 “Hessen”
Lufthansa Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor · Structural failure after engine fire
From Berlin-Tempelhof Airport to Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)
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
- 25 · 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
- Airline
Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor
- Aircraft type
- Focke Wulf FW-200
- 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
- D-ASHH
- Operator
- Lufthansa
- Onboard fatalities
- 25
- Route
- From Berlin-Tempelhof AirportTo Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
The Hessen was a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 passenger aircraft that crashed on 21 April 1945 near Piesenkofen, today part of the municipality of Egglkofen in the district of Mühldorf am Inn in Bavaria.
Sequence of events
The “Hessen”, a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 of Deutsche Lufthansa, was to bring Lufthansa's flight management from Berlin to Munich and then fly on to Spain with four Spanish ambassadors. The take-off planned for the morning of 21 April was postponed because of enemy activity. Although the weather was bad (thunderstorms), the “Hessen” took off towards Munich at around 20:25. At around 21:50 the pilots requested a radio bearing from Munich Airport; at that time the aircraft was level with Straubing. At 22:00 the engine noise of the Fw 200 was heard over Munich Airport, but because of the bad weather the aircraft could not land and flew on towards the southeast. After passing overhead, the pilots reported: “Flying directly to Barcelona”. Shortly afterwards, radio contact with the “Hessen” broke off. There was intense speculation about the whereabouts of the Fw 200 in the days after its disappearance, but the crash site could not be found.
Discovery of the crash site in 1950
The “Hessen” was not found in the following years either. In 1949 a Hungarian turned up at the town administration of Neumarkt-Sankt Veit with the insurance certificate of August Künstle, the captain of the “Hessen”. A year later it became known that the Fw 200 must have crashed near Piesenkofen. Although the crash was known about throughout the immediate surrounding area, nothing had ever become public.
Cause of the accident
On the basis of eyewitness reports, it was reconstructed that engine No. 1 had caught fire through a carburettor fire or a lightning strike. Over Piesenkofen the engine exploded, tearing off the end of the wing, and the aircraft crashed out of control.
Crash site today
Because the aircraft had crashed almost vertically into the forest, there is no swath cut through the forest. In 1997 a wooden cross was erected at the 20-metre-wide crash crater, which is still visible; it was renewed in 2003. For the 60th anniversary, a bronze stele was erected.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Absturz der Fw 200 „Hessen“ 1945” (revision 269734063, 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 der Fw 200 „Hessen“ 1945
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 269734063 · 2026-08-17 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q18286120
- 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 der Fw 200 „Hessen“ 1945" (page 8418145, revision 269734063), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from Wikidata (P17)
- Map position
- Wikipedia article 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 is an airline according to Wikidata
- 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.