On 1 August 1948, Air France Flight 072 went missing over the Atlantic Ocean, presumably killing all 52 people on board. The accident led to the withdrawal of the Latécoère 631 from service by Air France. It was the deadliest aircraft accident in the Atlantic Ocean at the time and also the deadliest suffered by that type of aircraft.

Aircraft

The accident aircraft was

Latécoère 631 The Latécoère 631 was a civil transatlantic flying boat built by Latécoère, the largest ever built up to its time. The type was not a success, being unreliable and uneconomic to operate. Five of the eleven aircraft built were written off in ...

F-BDRC, ''Lionel de Marnier'', msn 06. with a first flight on 9 November 1947.

Accident

The aircraft departed from Fort de France, Martinique at 14:50 GMT on 31 July, and was due to arrive at

Port-Etienne Nouadhibou (; ar, نواذيبو, Nwādībū, Berber: Nwadibu, formerly in French: ) is the second largest city in Mauritania and serves as a major commercial centre. The city itself has about 118,000 inhabitants expanding to over 140,000 in the l ...

French West Africa French West Africa (french: Afrique-Occidentale française, ) was a federation of eight French colonial territories in West Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guinea (now Guinea), Ivory Coast, Upper Volta (now Burki ...

at 01:00 GMT on 1 August. It was carrying a crew of twelve and 40 passengers. It was reported that a

mayday Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice-procedure radio communications. It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organiza ...

had been received by an American radio station in the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

just after midnight on 1 August. The aircraft's position was estimated as north of the Cape Verde Islands. Two Air France aircraft, a

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...

aircraft and a

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

ship were sent to search for the aircraft. The

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

sent to assist in the search. The Portuguese authorities allowed aircraft searching for the missing Latécoère 631 to use the Ilha do Sal Airport, which was not then open to traffic. Two

Portuguese Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = 1 July , equipment = , equipment_label ...

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

es also joined the search. The

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

sent a Flying Fortress and seven

Boeing B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

es to join the search. On 3 August, the French

weather ship A weather ship, or ocean station vessel, was a ship stationed in the ocean for surface and upper air meteorological observations for use in weather forecasting. They were primarily located in the north Atlantic and north Pacific oceans, reportin ...

''Leverrier'' reported receiving a distress message from the aircraft. A second message was received early the next morning. The American Flying Fortress also reported receiving a "faint and garbled" distress message that day. USCGC ''Campbell'' reported finding two seats from the aircraft at a position east of Puerto Rico. An aircraft later reported seeing wreckage from the position the seats were found. Some of the wreckage showed evidence of fire. The search for survivors was called off on 9 August. Following the accident, which was the worst crash in the Atlantic Ocean at the time and also the worst ever suffered by the Latécoère 631, the type was withdrawn from service by Air France.

References

{{Air France Aviation accidents and incidents in 1948 Aviation accidents and incidents in the Atlantic Ocean 072 Airliner accidents and incidents with an unknown cause Missing aircraft August 1948 events