Il-10 crash in Gdańsk

The Il-10 crash – an air crash which occurred on 24 February 1954 in Gdańsk-Wrzeszcz.

Course of the crash

On 24 February 1954, flight exercises in performing group flights were taking place over the airfield. The aim of the exercises was to coordinate the crews for formation flying and to simulate bombing of ground targets. During one of the passes of a flight of aircraft over the airfield, the flight director noticed that the undercarriage of one of the aircraft had not fully retracted. The crew was notified of this by radio and was instructed to check the undercarriage retraction system. In the meantime, however, a much more dangerous failure occurred – smoke began to come out of the engine, and a moment later it stopped completely. The aircraft was then about two kilometres from the airfield at a height of about 300 metres above the ground.

The pilot attempted an emergency landing at the airfield in a gliding flight. Unfortunately, the machine lost altitude, failed to reach the airfield and struck the connecting section between the residential buildings at 52 and 54 Kościuszki Street, at a distance of 250 metres from the airfield boundary. Both crew members were killed on the spot; the connecting section between the buildings was completely destroyed; fortunately there were no residents in it at the time, so nobody was hurt.

Because the aircraft was armed, exploding ammunition prevented firefighting for some time; firefighters managed to bring the fire under control only in the evening hours.

Causes of the crash

The crash was kept secret by the authorities, which was standard in Stalinist times; there was no information about it in the media. After concluding its investigation, a military commission determined that the cause of the accident was engine seizure as a result of improper maintenance.

The demolished part of the building was then rebuilt in identical form, and the residents received compensation for lost property.