Air France Flight 406 was a

Lockheed L-1649 Starliner The Lockheed L-1649 Starliner was the last model of the Lockheed Constellation line of airliners. Powered by four Wright R-3350 TurboCompound engines, it was built at Lockheed's Burbank, California plant from 1956 to 1958. Design and develop ...

that crashed in

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on May 10, 1961, after a bomb exploded on board. All 78 passengers and crew on board were killed. It was the worst aviation disaster involving a Lockheed Starliner.

Flight

Air France Flight 406 was an international scheduled passenger flight originating in Brazzaville, Congo, on a route with the final destination

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Intermediate stops were

Fort Lamy N'Djamena ( ) is the capital and largest city of Chad. It is also a special statute region, divided into 10 districts or ''arrondissements''. The city serves as the centre of economic activity in Chad. Meat, fish and cotton processing are th ...

, Chad, and

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

, France. The flight was flown by a Lockheed L-1649 Starliner, F-BHBM ''De Grasse''. After taking off from Fort Lamy, and while cruising at an altitude of approximately , the Starliner broke up after its

empennage The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third e ...

failed. The plane crashed to earth approximately from Edjele oilfield, near the Libya border. All aboard Flight 406 were killed. Eighteen children were among the dead. Among them were the three young children of the United States

Charge d'Affaires Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * '' Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * ''Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

in the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

, who, along with their mother (the charge's wife), were on Flight 406 headed for

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Also among the dead were a count and countess, plus two Central African Republic government ministers. Rumors began to surface after Flight 406's crash that it had been an assassination by enemies of the Central African Republic.

Investigation

The most probable cause of Air France Flight 406 crashing was

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...

with a

nitrocellulose Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...

explosive.

References

External links

* {{coord missing, Algeria 406 Airliner bombings Aviation accidents and incidents in 1961 Terrorist incidents in Africa in 1961 Aviation accidents and incidents in Algeria Accidents and incidents involving the Lockheed Starliner Mass murder in 1961 1961 in Algeria 1961 in France Assassinations Terrorist incidents in Algeria May 1961 events in Africa Explosions in 1961 Terrorist incidents in Algeria in the 1960s 1961 disasters in Africa

Flight

Investigation

See also

References

External links