The Tête de l'Obiou accident was on 13 November 1950. Curtiss-Reid Flying Service had been operating a scheduled service between Paris and Rome since 1945. On 13 November 1950, a Paris-bound Douglas C-54B-1-DC aircraft crashed on the

Grande Tête de l'Obiou The Grande Tête de l'Obiou (or simply '' l'Obiou'') is a mountain in the French Prealps belonging to the French department of Isère. It is the highest peak of the Dévoluy Mountains and of the Dauphiné Prealps and the seventh most prominent su ...

mountain, south of

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

. All 51 passengers and 7 crew were killed. The aircraft was off course.

Flight attendant A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...

Helen Johnston's body was missing for weeks until it was found in a

crevasse A crevasse is a deep crack, that forms in a glacier or ice sheet that can be a few inches across to over 40 feet. Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the shear stress generated when two semi-rigid pie ...

on the mountain.

Accident narrative

The aircraft was carrying fifty-one pilgrims, all but two of whom were Canadians and fifteen of whom were Catholic priests, on the return leg to Montreal Dorval airport from a Holy Year pilgrimage in Rome. After departing Rome Ciampino at 14:16, it crossed the Mediterranean via Bastia in Corsica, whence the flight plan called for it to pass over the Istres non-directional beacon. Whereas the crew reported its position at Istres at 16:26, the aircraft was already some 40 nautical miles to the east. A second position report, at 16"44, put it over Montelimar, whereas it was in reality in the vicinity of the airport at Gap-Tallard. Some fifteen minutes later, the aircraft struck the top of the 9,150-feet high Tête de l'Obiou mountain, less than six feet from the summit. Night was falling and the mountain was enveloped by cloud at the time of the accident. All on board were killed instantly. Alpine rescuers soon reached the scene notwithstanding severe conditions, one being killed by an avalanche during the ascent. However, the ruggedness of the terrain and the high impact forces greatly impeded the recovery operation. Fifteen of the dead were never identified. In July 1951, six Italian forest workers were prosecuted for looting the crash site and stealing money, jewellery and religious objects from the wreckage.

References

External links

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Final report of the french Bureau Enquêtes / Accidents, in french

Gendarmerie (police) report, in french

Report from the Aix control center, in french
Airliner accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain Aviation accidents and incidents in 1950 Aviation accidents and incidents in France Accidents and incidents involving the Douglas DC-4 November 1950 events in Europe 1950 in France {{France-transport-stub

Accident narrative

See also

References

External links