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1955 Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano mid-air collision

5 Sept 1955 · Near Cochabamba, Bolivia

Douglas DC-3 and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress · Mid-air collision

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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
3 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Unknown
Survivors
11
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

Aircraft 1 · Douglas DC-3

Aircraft type
Douglas DC-3
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
CP-572
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo not recorded

Aircraft 2 · Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

Aircraft type
Boeing B-17
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
CP-597
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Not stated
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
None · no survivors
Route
From not recordedTo not recorded

Approximate · Estimated position: Cochabamba, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.

From the Wikipedia article

The Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano mid-air collision occurred on 5 September 1955, when two aircraft (a Douglas DC-3 and a Boeing B-17) of Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano collided in mid-air over Cochabamba. The B-17 fell out of control and crashed to the ground, killing its three crew members, while the DC-3 made an emergency landing in Trinidad, with no injuries reported among the 11 people on board.

Investigation and cause

Investigation

The exact cause of the accident was not established with certainty. No conclusive official reports were found publicly available. The evidence suggests that there may have been contributions from weather conditions (cloud cover), speed differences between the two aircraft, or possible failures in air traffic control coordination.

The lack of flight data recorders or voice recorders, typical of the era, limited the depth of the investigation. It is unknown whether the Directorate General of Civil Aeronautics of Bolivia issued any official report or recommendations after the accident.

Translated into English with AI assistance from the Spanish Wikipedia article “Colisión aérea de Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano en 1955” (revision 175149720, 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

Spanish Wikipedia article: Colisión aérea de Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano en 1955
Article
Colisión aérea de Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano en 1955
Translation
Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
Revision
175149720 · 2026-09-01 · retrieved 2026-09-19
Wikidata
Q134313073
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
es Wikipedia article "Colisión aérea de Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano en 1955" (page 11192283, revision 175149720), 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 is an airline according to Wikidata
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Spanish Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.