Site English Channel Crew 3 Survivors 0 Date 9 May 1934 Operator Air France Location English Channel | Passengers 3 Fatalities 6 Aircraft type Wibault 282T-12 Number of deaths 6 Survivor 0 | |
Summary Controlled flight into terrain Similar 1952 Air France SNCASE, 1948 Air France Latécoèr, Air France Flight 2005, Air France Flight 212, Air France Flight 178 | ||
The 1934 Air France Wibault 282T crash occurred on 9 May 1934 when Wibault 282T-12 F-AMHY of Air France crashed into the English Channel off Dungeness, Kent, United Kingdom whilst operating an international scheduled passenger flight from Le Bourget, Paris, France to Croydon, Surrey, United Kingdom. All six people on board were killed.
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Aircraft
The accident aircraft was Wibault 282T-12 F-AMHP, c/n 8. The aircraft had entered service with Air Union on 21 August 1933, passing to Air France on formation.
Accident
The aircraft was operating a scheduled international passenger flight from Le Bourget, Paris, France to Croydon, Surrey, United Kingdom. It was carrying three crew and three passengers. The aircraft had taken off from Le Bourget at 11:15 local time (10:15 GMT) and passed over Le Tréport, Seine-Maritime at 12:10. At 12:19, a radio fix obtained from Croydon established that the aircraft was 18½ miles (29.8 km) west by south of Boulogne, Pas-de-Calais. There were no further messages received from the aircraft. The weather at the time included low clouds.
At 17:20 GMT, the Folkestone lifeboat was launched with instructions to search the sea at a position 12 miles (19 km) south east by south of Dungeness, where it was reported that wreckage had been observed. The Dover lifeboat also joined the search. No trace of the aircraft was found during the search, which was hampered by thick fog. The Folkestone lifeboat did not return to its station until after 22:00 GMT. The lack of an SOS call from the aircraft indicated that it had crashed into the sea whilst attempting to fly below the low cloudbase. On 18 May, a mailbag from the aircraft was washed up on the French coast.
Casualties
The nationalities of the casualties were:-