On 1 September 1953, an

Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global a ...

Lockheed L-749 Constellation The Lockheed L-749 Constellation is the first Lockheed Constellation to regularly cross the Atlantic Ocean non-stop. Although similar in appearance to the L-649 before it, the L-749 had a larger fuel capacity, strengthened landing gear, and even ...

, registered in France as F-BAZZ, flying Flight 178, a scheduled flight from Paris to

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

, crashed into the Pelat Massif in the

French Alps The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such as ...

near

Barcelonnette Barcelonnette (; oc, Barciloneta de Provença, also ; obsolete it, Barcellonetta) is a commune of France and a subprefecture in the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It is located in the souther ...

on the first stage of the flight, between

Orly Airport Paris Orly Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Orly), commonly referred to as Orly , is one of two international airports serving the French capital, Paris, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly ...

and

Nice Airport Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

. All 42 on board were killed, nine crew and 33 passengers including the French violinist

Jacques Thibaud Jacques Thibaud (; 27 September 18801 September 1953) was a French violinist. Biography Thibaud was born in Bordeaux and studied the violin with his father before entering the Paris Conservatoire at the age of thirteen. In 1896 he jointly won th ...

and the French pianist

René Herbin René Herbin (1911 – 1 September 1953) was a French composer and pianist, who died accidentally in the Mount Cimet air disaster in the French Alps. Life Born in Vitry-le-François, Herbin entered the Conservatoire de Paris at 14 years old. ...

Accident

The Constellation had left Orly at 22:00 and was due at Nice at 23:55. At 23:25 the aircraft requested permission to descend from 13,600 ft (4 145 m) to 11,500 ft (3 505 m) and reported violent local storms. Around 23:30 villagers at Fours-St. Laurent saw the aircraft crash into the side of Mont Le Cimet, about away. The aircraft struck the ground about below the summit and burst into flames. A rescue party from Fours left about 90 minutes after the accident but did not arrive at the scene until 5:25, they were joined by a doctor and nurse from Barcelonnette and two teams from the

Chasseurs Alpins The ''chasseurs alpins'' ( en, Alpine Rangers) are the elite mountain infantry force of the French Army. They are trained to operate in mountainous terrain and in urban warfare. History France created its own mountain corps in the late 19th ...

. The Chasseurs Alpins were equipped with radio and reported at 6:45 that no survivors had been found. The accident investigation established " controlled flight into terrain (CFIT)" as the cause.

Passengers

The aircraft had 33 passengers, 30 bound for Saigon and three for

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. Three of the passengers were the 72-year-old French violinist

, his daughter-in-law and his accompanist. Thibaud's 1720

Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian family Stradivari, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are c ...

violin, "Thibaud", was also destroyed in the crash.*

Aircraft

The aircraft was a four-engined

piston-engined airliner registered ''F-BAZZ'', construction number 2674, that had first flown in 1951 in the United States and had been delivered to

on 18 July 1951.

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Aviation Safety Network report

Photos of the accident site in 2009
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in France Aviation accidents and incidents in 1953 Aviation accidents and incidents in France Accidents and incidents involving the Lockheed Constellation Aviation accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain 178 1953 in France History of the Alps