Junkers F 13 "Tolima" crash

The Junkers F 13 "Tolima" crash occurred on Sunday 8 June 1924 in Barranquilla, Colombia. It was due to an engine failure, while its occupants were dropping from the air advertising leaflets promoting the construction of the Bocas de Ceniza hydraulic works.

Accident

The Junkers-F 13 seaplane "Tolima", identified with registration A-16 Fac-No. 684, took off at around three in the afternoon from the Veranillo seaplane base in order to promote the channelling of Bocas de Ceniza before the Minister of Public Works, Aquilino Villegas, dropping signs alluding to the works, with the legend "Bocas de Ceniza". The crew consisted of Hellmuth von Krohn, pilot, and Wilhelm Fischer, co-pilot. The passengers were Ernesto Cortissoz, president of Scadta; Fritz Troost, Christian Ludwig Meyer and Albrecht Nikisch von Roseneck.

The pilot P. M. Meyer, who observed the accident, stated that, apparently, while trying to avoid a cloud there was a rapid movement, some banking and descent on the right side, probably due to some sudden change of wind or abnormality of the air current. The engineer Wilhelm Schnurbusch explained "that on arriving at the accident site he was able to verify that the power switch had been operated, leaving the aircraft without power, something that must be done to prevent the aircraft from catching fire when it crashes. That an acceleration of the engine had been heard at the same time as smoke came out of it, that the pilot had accelerated and at the same time enriched the fuel mixture to have the power to get out of the emergency. Due to the low height at which the aircraft was flying (380 to 400 metres), this manoeuvre was unsuccessful and it plunged onto the thatched-roof kitchen and the trees in the courtyard of the house marked with number 6 on Calle Santander. On hitting the ground, the petrol tanks burst, and on coming into contact with the lit stoves of the kitchen, set the aircraft on fire, burning five occupants". According to other sources, the accident was due to the quantity of small paper notices in the aircraft's cabin intended to be dropped from the air over the city, in which the citizens asked the minister for greater interest in the opening of Bocas de Ceniza. An involuntary oversight by one of the passengers, who may have been carrying a lit cigarette, could have caused the papers to catch fire and cause the accident. According to another version, the aircraft came down after striking its right aileron against a ceiba tree planted on a corner of the street with Carrera 41. “The machine flipped over and in the middle of a dense cloud of smoke crashed, noisily, into some guava and almond trees that were in the yard of the dwelling house of Don Aníbal Glen”, wrote, half a century ago in El Heraldo, the journalist Juan Goenaga, who in 1924 was a student and witnessed the tragedy about 90 metres from the ceiba.

The Tolima fell in the courtyard of the house of the Glen family, located at number 6 on Calle Santander (40) between the alleys Francisco J. Palacio (41) and California (43). The girl María Glen was alone in the house and suffered no injury. She was the daughter of the owner of the property, Aníbal Glen, and Flor Salcedo, who was among the spectators of the flight.