The May 1923 Air Union Farman Goliath crash occurred on 14 May 1923 when

Farman F.60 Goliath The Farman F.60 Goliath was a French airliner and bomber produced by the Farman Aviation Works from 1919. It was instrumental in the creation of early airlines and commercial routes in Europe after World War I. Design and development The ''G ...

F-AEBY of

Air Union Air Union was a French airline established January 1, 1923, as the result of a merger between the airlines ''Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes'' and '' Compagnie des Grands Express Aériens''. Air Union was merged with four other French airli ...

crashed at Monsures, Somme, France following the structural failure of a wing in flight. All six people on board were killed.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was

F-AEBY, c/n 3. The aircraft had entered service with

Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes ''Compagnie des messageries aériennes'' was a pioneering French airline which was in operation from 1919–23, when it was merged with Grands Express Aériens to form Air Union. History Compagnie des messageries aériennes was established Febru ...

in April 1922, passing to Air Union in January 1923.

Accident

The aircraft departed Le Bourget Airport, Paris at 12:35

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

with two crew and four passengers on board. At 13:42, the aircraft crashed at Monsures, Somme and burst into flames. A ''

garde champêtre A ''garde champêtre'' (french: lit. rural guard) is the combination of a forest ranger, game warden and Code Enforcement, code enforcement officer in certain rural communes in France. Organization Their job is to report to the local mayor. Man ...

'' witnessed the aircraft flying at an altitude of when he saw what he described as "an explosion" in the air. The aircraft crashed and was consumed in the fire that followed. All six people on board were killed, including M. Pierrot, the Technical Director of Air Union. The cause of the accident was the structural failure of a wing. One of the aircraft's wings was found at a distance of from the location of the main wreckage. One pair of wheels from the undercarriage was found near the

railway line Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

from

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

Beauvais Beauvais ( , ; pcd, Bieuvais) is a city and commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise département, in the Hauts-de-France region, north of Paris. The commune of Beauvais had a population of 56,020 , making it the most populous ...

, several hundred yards from the wreckage.

Casualties

The nationalities of the victims were:-

References

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in the 1920s, year=1923 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1923 Aviation accidents and incidents in France Airliner accidents and incidents caused by in-flight structural failure 1923 in France History of Somme (department)