List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft 1919 – 1959 facts for kids

This page lists some important accidents and incidents involving large passenger aircraft from 1919 to 1959. These events helped shape how we make air travel safer today.

The famous Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei Hindenburg airship caught fire in 1937.

Early Air Travel Accidents (1919-1929)

First Major Airship Crash (1919)

• July 21 – The Wingfoot Air Express crash involved a large airship called a dirigible. It belonged to the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. This airship caught fire while flying over Chicago, Illinois. Sadly, 13 people died in this accident.

First Mid-Air Collision (1922)

• April 7 – A very important event in aviation history happened in France. Two passenger planes, a de Havilland DH.18A and a Farman F.60 Goliath, crashed into each other in the sky. This was the first mid-air collision of airliners. All seven people on both aircraft died. This accident showed how important it was to control air traffic.

Early Engine Problems (1923-1927)

• May 14, 1923 – An Air Union Farman F.60 Goliath crashed in France. A part of its wing broke off during the flight. All 6 people on board died.
• August 27, 1923 – Another Air Union Farman F.60 Goliath crashed in England. This time, an engine failed. One person out of 13 on board died.
• October 2, 1926 – An Air Union Blériot 155 caught fire while flying over England. The pilot tried to land it safely, but it crashed. All seven people on board died. This was the first time a fire happened on a passenger plane during a flight.
• August 22, 1927 – A KLM Fokker F.VIII crashed in England. The tail of the plane broke apart. One person out of 11 on board died.

Pilot Error and Engine Failure (1928-1929)

• July 13, 1928 – An Imperial Airways Vickers Vulcan crashed during a test flight in England. Four passengers died. After this, the airline stopped letting staff fly on test flights for fun.
• June 17, 1929 – An Imperial Airways Handley Page W.10 had to land in the English Channel (ditch) because its engines failed. Seven out of 13 people on board died.

Growing Pains in Aviation (1930s)

Early Disasters and Discoveries (1930-1933)

• March 21, 1931 – The Southern Cloud, an Australian passenger plane, crashed in the Snowy Mountains. All eight people on board died. This was Australia's first big airline disaster. The plane's wreckage was not found for 27 years. Bad weather was likely the cause.
• March 31, 1931 – TWA Flight 599, a Fokker F.10 Trimotor, crashed in Kansas, USA. All eight people on board died, including a famous football coach, Knute Rockne.
• March 28, 1933 – The 1933 Imperial Airways Dixmude crash in Belgium was the first time people thought a plane crash might be caused by someone trying to damage the plane on purpose (sabotage). All 15 people on board died.
• October 10, 1933 – The United Airlines crash near Chesterton was the first time it was proven that a bomb destroyed a commercial aircraft. A bomb blew up a Boeing 247 over Indiana, USA. All seven people on board died.

Weather and Structural Issues (1934-1936)

• July 27, 1934 – A Swissair Curtiss T-32 Condor II crashed in Germany. A wing broke off during a thunderstorm. All 12 people on board died.
• January 14, 1936 – American Airlines Flight 1, a Douglas DC-2, crashed into a swamp in Arkansas, USA. All 17 people on board died. The exact reason for this crash was never found.
• June 16, 1936 – The Havørn Accident happened in Norway. A Junkers Ju 52 plane crashed into a mountain. All seven people on board died.
• December 9, 1936 – A KLM Douglas DC-2 crashed during takeoff from an airport in England. 15 out of 17 people on board died.

Famous Disasters (1937-1939)

• May 6, 1937 – The famous Zeppelin Hindenburg caught fire and crashed while trying to land in New Jersey, USA. Out of 97 people on board, 35 died. One person on the ground also died.
• October 25, 1938 – The Kyeema, an Australian National Airways Douglas DC-2, crashed in heavy fog into Mount Dandenong in Australia. All 18 people on board died.
• November 4, 1938 – In the 1938 Jersey Airport disaster, a plane crashed during takeoff from Jersey Airport because of pilot error. All 13 people on board and one person on the ground died.
• January 21, 1939 – An Imperial Airways flying boat called Cavalier had to land in the North Atlantic Ocean because it lost power. Three out of 12 people on board died.

World War II and Beyond (1940s)

Wartime Incidents (1940-1944)

• June 14, 1940 – In the Kaleva shootdown, a Finnish passenger plane was shot down by two Soviet bombers over the Gulf of Finland during peacetime. All nine people on board died.
• August 31, 1940 – In the Lovettsville air disaster, a Douglas DC-3A crashed in Virginia, USA. All 25 people on board died.
• January 16, 1942 – TWA Flight 3, a Douglas DC-3, crashed into a mountain in Nevada, USA. All 22 people on board died, including the famous actress Carole Lombard.
• January 30, 1942 – A Qantas flying boat was shot down by Japanese fighters near East Timor. 13 out of 18 people on board died.
• October 23, 1942 – American Airlines Flight 28, a Douglas DC-3, crashed after being hit by a US Army bomber in California, USA. All 12 people on the passenger plane died. The bomber landed safely.
• June 1, 1943 – BOAC Flight 777, a Douglas DC-3, was shot down by German fighter planes over the Bay of Biscay. All 17 people on board died.

Post-War Challenges (1945-1949)

• January 8, 1945 – The China Clipper, a Pan Am flying boat, crashed in Trinidad. All 25 people on board died.
• July 12, 1945 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 45, a Douglas DC-3A, crashed after hitting a military plane over South Carolina, USA. One person on the DC-3 and one on the military plane died.
• March 10, 1946 – The 1946 Australian National Airways DC-3 crash in Tasmania, Australia, killed all 25 people on board.
• October 3, 1946 – An American Overseas Airlines Douglas C-54 crashed into mountains after takeoff in Newfoundland. All 39 people on board died.
• October 24, 1947 – United Airlines Flight 608, a Douglas DC-6, crashed in Utah, USA. A fire caused by a design problem destroyed the plane. All 52 people on board died. This was the first time a DC-6 was completely destroyed in an accident.
• January 30, 1948 – The BSAA Star Tiger disappeared without a trace over the Atlantic Ocean with 31 people on board. This mystery, along with another disappearance in 1949, helped create the legend of the Bermuda Triangle.
• April 5, 1948 – In the 1948 Gatow air disaster, a British passenger plane crashed near Berlin after hitting a Soviet fighter jet. All 14 people on the passenger plane died, as well as the Soviet pilot.
• July 17, 1948 – The Miss Macao, a seaplane, was hijacked over Hong Kong. After a struggle in the cockpit, the plane crashed. Everyone died except one person, who was later found to be the main hijacker. This was the earliest known hijacking of a passenger plane.
• August 1, 1948 – In the 1948 Air France Latécoère 631 disappearance, a large flying boat disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean. All 52 people on board died. This was the worst aviation accident in the Atlantic at that time for this type of plane.
• September 9, 1949 – Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108, a Douglas DC-3, exploded in Canada because of a bomb planted by a man named Albert Guay. All 23 people on board died.
• November 1, 1949 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 537, a Douglas DC-4, crashed after hitting a military plane near Washington National Airport. All 55 people on the DC-4 died.

New Era, New Challenges (1950s)

Early 1950s Accidents (1950-1952)

• March 12, 1950 – The Llandow air disaster in Wales was the worst air disaster in history at that time. An Avro Tudor V plane crashed because its back cargo area was too heavy. 80 out of 83 people on board died.
• June 12 & 14, 1950 – Two Air France Douglas DC-4 planes crashed into the Arabian Sea near Bahrain. In total, 86 people died in these two similar accidents.
• August 31, 1950 – TWA Flight 903, a Lockheed Constellation, crashed in the desert in Egypt because of an engine fire. All 55 people on board died. This was the worst accident ever for this type of plane.
• November 3, 1950 – Air India Flight 245, a Lockheed Constellation, crashed into Mont Blanc in France. All 48 people on board died. Sixteen years later, another Air India flight crashed in almost the same spot.
• April 25, 1951 – Cubana de Aviación Flight 493, a Douglas DC-4, crashed after hitting a US Navy plane in the air off Key West, USA. All 43 people on both aircraft died.
• June 30, 1951 – United Airlines Flight 610, a Douglas DC-6, flew into a mountain in Colorado, USA, because of a mistake in navigation. All 50 people on board died.
• January 22, 1952 – American Airlines Flight 6780, a Convair CV-240, crashed into houses in Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA, while trying to land. 30 people died. This led to new rules about keeping areas around airports clear.
• April 28, 1952 – Pan Am Flight 202, a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, crashed in a remote part of Brazil after a propeller failed. All 50 people on board died. This was the worst accident ever for the Boeing 377.

Mid-1950s Accidents (1953-1956)

• July 12, 1953 – Transocean Air Lines Flight 512, a Douglas DC-6A, crashed into the Pacific Ocean. All 58 people on board died.
• September 1, 1953 – Air France Flight 178, a Lockheed Constellation, crashed into a mountain in France. All 42 people on board died.
• January 10, 1954 – BOAC Flight 781, a de Havilland Comet, broke apart in the air. This was caused by metal fatigue, meaning the plane's body got weak from being pressurized many times. All 35 people on board died.
• April 8, 1954 – South African Airways Flight 201, another de Havilland Comet, also broke apart in the air for the same reason: metal fatigue around the square windows. All 21 people on board died. These crashes led to important changes in how planes are designed.
• July 23, 1954 – The 1954 Cathay Pacific Douglas DC-4 shootdown: A Cathay Pacific Douglas DC-4 was attacked by two Chinese fighter jets and crashed. 10 out of 19 people on board died.
• June 30, 1956 – The 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision was a very important event. Two planes, a DC-7 and a Lockheed Constellation, crashed into each other over the Grand Canyon in the USA. All 128 people on both planes died. The pilots were flying by sight and did not see each other. This terrible accident led to the creation of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to better control air traffic and prevent such collisions.
• October 16, 1956 – Pan Am Flight 6, a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, had to land in the Pacific Ocean (ditch). All 31 people on board were saved by a nearby Coast Guard ship.

Late 1950s Accidents (1957-1959)

• February 6, 1958 – In the Munich air disaster, a British plane crashed while trying to take off in a snowstorm from Munich, Germany. 23 out of 44 people died, including eight football players from the Manchester United team.
• April 21, 1958 – United Airlines Flight 736, a Douglas DC-7, crashed after hitting a US Air Force fighter jet near Las Vegas, Nevada. All 47 people on the airliner and both pilots of the fighter jet died.
• August 14, 1958 – KLM Flight 607-E, a Lockheed Super Constellation, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after taking off from Ireland. All 99 people on board died, including six members of the Egyptian fencing team.
• February 3, 1959 – American Airlines Flight 320, a Lockheed Electra, crashed into the East River in New York City because of pilot error. 65 people died.
• June 26, 1959 – TWA Flight 891, a Lockheed Starliner, crashed after being hit by lightning shortly after taking off from Milan, Italy. All 68 people on board died.
• September 29, 1959 – Braniff Flight 542, a Lockheed Electra, broke apart in the air and crashed in Texas, USA. All 34 people on board died.

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Related pages

• List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft 1960 – 1989
• List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft 1990 – 2019