1946 Amsterdam KLM Douglas C-47 crash

Aviation accident in the Netherlands April 2026 1946 KLM Douglas C-47 Amsterdam accident Accident KLM PH-TBW wreckage.jpg 250px Wreckage of PH-TBW yes 1946 11 14 Controlled flight into terrain in poor weather Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Netherlands Douglas C-47A Skytrain KLM PH-TBW London, United Kingdom Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Netherlands 26 21 5 26 0 The 1946 KLM Douglas C-47 Amsterdam accident was the crash of a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight from London to Amsterdam on 14 November 1946. The accident occurred as the aircraft was attempting to land at Amsterdam's airport in poor weather. All 26 passengers and crew on board were killed. Accident The civil-use converted C-47 Skytrain was on a scheduled flight from London, England to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. At 7:50 pm on the evening of 14 November 1946, the aircraft had been cleared to land at Schiphol Airport in poor weather. The first attempt to land failed and the crew had to perform a go-around. The second approach to land also failed. On the third approach to land, the aircraft made a sudden turn to the left, apparently trying to line up with the runway. During this turn the aircraft struck the ground and crashed. Witnesses in the tower stated that the aircraft engines appeared to have stalled when the aircraft was at 300 ft m above the ground. The flight crew were able to restart the engines, but the plane was too low to recover. The aircraft caught fire and broke apart on impact, killing all 21 passengers and five crew on board. Rescuers on the scene arrived but were unable to approach the wreckage due to the flames. The fire lasted seven minutes, and by the time the Amsterdam Fire Service arrived, the fire was already out, with no survivors. A KLM official stated that the cause of the crash was a too-slow approach speed during the landing, which led to a stall. The official stated that the pilot attempted to increase his speed just before landing. At the time it happened, the accident was the worst aviation accident in the history of the Netherlands. Eight days earlier another KLM DC-3 operating on the same route in the opposite direction, crashed on approach to London's Croydon Airport in poor weather. There were no fatalities in the London crash but the aircraft was written off.Aircraft accident Douglas C-47A-90-DL PH-TBO near Shere, 6 November 1946 retrieved 8 July 2012 Passengers and crew The aircraft was carrying twenty-one passengers and five crew members at the time of the crash. Five of the passengers and the captain of the flight were British citizens, and the remaining were Dutch citizens. Many of the Dutch passengers were army officers on a service flight between London and the Netherlands. The victims included Dutch novelist Herman de Man. The captain, James Moreton, was a British citizen who had been employed by KLM and had seventeen years of flying experience. References https://www.newspapers.com/image/798927947 Newspapers.com The Gloucestershire Echo Cheltenham, England 15 November 1946 1 Pickaxes Used To Dig Out Victims https://www.newspapers.com/image/986951257 Newspapers.com Liverpool Daily Post Liverpool, England 15 November 1946 1 26 Perish in plane fire-crash on flight from London 15 November 1946 Montreal, Canada The Montreal Star 5 Dutch Plane Crash Attributed to Stall https://www.newspapers.com/image/741589059 Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/image/998038093 Newspapers.com Riverside Daily Press Riverside, California United Press 15 November 1946 7 26 Die in Dutch Airliner Crash http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19461114-0 Aircraft accident Douglas C-47A-90-DL PH-TBW Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport Flight Safety Foundation 14 April 2025 External links Crash photo of PH-TBW K K K K K Category:November 1946 in Europe Category:1946 in the Netherlands Category:1940s disasters in the Netherlands Category:1946 disasters in Europe Category:Haarlemmermeer Category:History of North Holland