The 1983 Rhein-Main Starfighter crash happened on 22 May 1983, in connection with an air show at the

Rhein-Main Air Base Rhein-Main Air Base (located at ) was a United States Air Force air base near the city of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was a Military Airlift Command (MAC) and United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) installation, occupying the south side ...

. A Canadian Armed Forces

Canadair CF-104 Starfighter The Canadair CF-104 Starfighter (CF-111, CL-90) is a modified version of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter supersonic fighter aircraft built in Canada by Canadair under licence. It was primarily used as a ground attack aircraft, despite being ...

crashed on a nearby highway, killing six.

Background

Pentecost is an extended holiday weekend in Germany in a row of three holiday weekends, with a lot of festival activities taking place. On 22 May 1983 in Frankfurt, the traditional "Wäldchestag" (forest day, albeit written in local dialect) drew people from the city into a forest area where a mobile fun park was erected. The tennis club near the soccer stadium Waldstadion held a tennis tournament and the

held a public open day air show. Part of the presentation was a display of formation aerobatics by Canadian Armed Forces

s (CF-104) from

CFB Baden–Soellingen Canadian Forces Base Baden–Soellingen or CFB Baden–Soellingen, formerly known as RCAF Station Baden–Soellingen (Baden), (International Air Transport Association airport code, IATA:FKB, International Civil Aviation Organization airport code ...

(Baden).

Crash

Five CF-104s from 439 (Sabre-Toothed Tiger) Squadron CAF (439 Sqn) performed formation aerobatics. One of the aircraft left the formation, flew several kilometers North-East and crashed near the Waldstadion onto federal road 44."Jet-Absturz vor 30 Jahren, Fragen zur Ursache des Unglücks blieben offen", Frankfurter Rundschau, 18. Mai 2013
/ref> The pilot was able to eject safely, but burning pieces of the airplane hit the car of Pastor Jürges and his family, who were on their way to the Odenwald mountains for a day-trip. The family, Pastor Martin Jürges (40), his wife Irmtraud (38), his mother Erna (77) and his children Jan (11) and Katharina (11 months) died at the scene of the accident.Luftfahrt: Tödliches Spektakel, Spiegel 22/1983 page 101
/ref> Jürges’ 19-year old niece Gesine Wagner managed to escape from the car, but was caught by the fireball of the exploding jet and burned extensively, dying on 11 August 1983, 81 days after the accident.HR Online Special: Der Absturz, 21.05.2008
/ref>

Investigation

Due to the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

status of forces agreement the accident was investigated by the

Canadian Department of National Defence The Department of National Defence (DND; french: Ministère de la Défense nationale) is the department of the Government of Canada which supports the Canadian Armed Forces in its role of defending Canadian national interests domestically and i ...

. The state prosecutor in Frankfurt started, according to the rules, a cause of death investigation, but its investigation solely relied on the results of the Canadian investigation. Officially the results were only passed to the German state prosecutor as a press release, stating briefly that "neither technical failure nor human error" can be exempt as the cause of the accident. An investigation by the

Hessischer Rundfunk Hessischer Rundfunk (HR; "Hesse Broadcasting") is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of the national consortium of German public broadcasting corporations, ARD. Studios Do ...

in 2003 showed that although the leading state prosecutor had authority to question the pilot, he acceded to the Canadian accident report.Ulrike Bremer: ''Die tödliche Flugschau von Frankfurt.'', TV report, 44:09 minutes, Documentary of

hr-fernsehen hr-fernsehen is the regional television channel of Hessischer Rundfunk for the state of Hesse, Germany. Overview The channel focuses on regional reporting. In addition to the afternoon programme ''hallo hessen'' and the weeknightly tabloid magaz ...

s from May 21, 2003

Aftermath

It was soon realized that the crash could have caused many more fatal casualties, as the ongoing tennis tournament as well as the fun fair in the forest was just a few hundred meters from the crash site. As a result, the German defense ministry prohibited at first in general air shows in metropolitan areas which was later changed to prohibit air shows with jet airplanes in metropolitan areas. During the 81 days in hospital Gesine dictated letters to her family and friends, which her parents published as a book."Im Feuer ist mein Leben verbrannt. Der Starfighter-Absturz in Frankfurt 1983. Briefe, Tagebuchaufzeichnungen, Dokumente.", Gesine Wagner, Gütersloher Verlagshaus Juli 1987 In 2003,

broadcast a documentary about the accident. According to the documentary, the owners of damaged cars were compensated fairly quickly after the accident. The parents of Gesine Wagner did not receive any support from officials while Gesine was in hospital or any condolences or compensation after her death. A square in the Frankfurt district of Gutleutviertel – where Martin Jürges was pastor – is named after the Jürges family. A plaque commemorates the accident on May 22, 1983.

References

External links