On 27 July 1934, a Swissair Curtiss AT-32C Condor II passenger aircraft crashed near

Tuttlingen Tuttlingen ( Alemannic: ''Duttlinga'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, capital of the district Tuttlingen. Nendingen, ''Möhringen'' and ''Eßlingen'' are three former municipalities that belong to Tuttlingen. Tuttlingen is located in Swabia ea ...

, Germany, while flying through a

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are some ...

. All 12 people on board were killed. It was the worst air crash in 1934 and Swissair's first aviation accident since its founding in 1931. Nelly Diener cropped

Aircraft and occupants

The aircraft involved in the accident, registered CH-170, was a Curtiss AT-32C Condor II, a variant of the standard T-32 developed specifically for Swiss

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations. Hi ...

Swissair, which was its only operator. CH-170 had entered service on 28 March 1934, and at the time of the accident, had only been in service for four months. The cabin was configured with seating for up to 15 people. The aircraft's flight attendant,

Nelly Diener Nelly Hedwig Diener (5 February 1912 – 27 July 1934) was a Swiss flight attendant. She was the first female flight attendant in Europe. Diener started flying for Swissair on 1 May 1934 and became known as the ("Angel of the Skies"). She die ...

, also known as the ''Engel der Lüfte'' ("Angel of the Skies"), was Europe's first air stewardess. She had been working for Swissair since 1 May 1934. The other two crew members were the pilot, Armin Mühlematter, and the radio navigator, Hans Daschinger. On the fatal flight, nine passengers were aboard.

Accident

The aircraft departed Zurich for

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, with stopovers in Stuttgart and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

. Shortly after crossing the Swiss-German border, the aircraft, cruising at an altitude around , encountered a thunderstorm, and while flying through it, experienced turbulence. The right wing eventually broke off; the plane fell into a forest near Tuttlingen, exploding into flames on impact.

Investigation

Investigators found that oscillations in the wing had caused a stress fracture, the severity of which was exacerbated by the violent weather conditions in which the aircraft was flying. German investigators, however, determined that one fracture formed in the wing and engine-mount structure due to defective construction and welding techniques in conjunction with the engine vibrations, while a second fracture resulted from the force of the turbulence in the storm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swissair Tuttlingen accident 1934 in Germany 1934 in Switzerland Aviation accidents and incidents in 1934 Airliner accidents and incidents caused by in-flight structural failure Airliner accidents and incidents caused by weather

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...

Aviation accidents and incidents in Germany