C-47 crash near Mulden

The C-47 crash near Mulden was an aviation accident involving an Aeroflot Douglas C-47 Skytrain aircraft that occurred on Sunday 4 March 1945 in the area of Mulden (East Prussia), in which 5 people were killed.

Crash

The crew of Douglas C-47 registration USSR-L915 (factory number 13350) had operated a flight from Leningrad to Wormditt, during which it delivered personnel of the 227th Assault Aviation Division. In Wormditt a representative of this aviation division invited the crew to lunch. During the lunch, among other things, the crew members also drank alcohol — vodka and spirit, even though they still had a return flight ahead of them to their home airfield in Insterburg. The crew then came to the airfield, where, according to witness testimony, the drunk aircraft commander Mazo began to boast of his skill in front of the ground-attack pilots. Finally at 17:25 the "Douglas" took off, after which it made a full circle over the airfield at an altitude of 70 metres, then descended to an altitude of 20—30 metres and, increasing engine power to maximum, performed a combat turn with a roughly 180° exit while descending, and only after this headed for Insterburg.

In Insterburg at that time heavy snow was falling, and visibility dropped to 100—150 metres. The regiment commander then sent a radiogram to aircraft L915: "Return to Wormditt, storm in Insterburg". However, the aircraft commander did not turn back. The second message to the aircraft read "Return to Wormditt, I forbid you to fly to Insterburg", but it too did not change the crew's intention to continue to Insterburg. The third radiogram read: "I categorically forbid you to go to Insterburg, go to Wormditt". Only after this did aircraft L915 report that it was returning to Wormditt. But during the flight to Wormditt, the C-47, flying on a heading of 320 °, flew into heavy snowfall, after which, flying at low altitude, it unexpectedly found itself over a forest. The right wing struck the tops of two spruce trees and separated. Having flown 740 metres from the point of first impact, the airliner, 3 kilometres north of Mulden, fell at an angle of 45° onto stacks of firewood located in a logging area in a clearing, broke up and caught fire. 3 days later, on 7 March, the crashed aircraft was found from the air. All 5 people on board were killed.