1954 — Mar 4, USAF C47 flies into mountain in snowstorm ~St.-Étienne-de-Tinée France–all 20

–20 Associated Press. “News Briefs.” The Gettysburg Times, PA. 3-8-1954, p. 6.
–20 Aviation Safety Network. USAF C47 flies into mt. near Saint-Etienne-de-Tinee France.
–20 UP. “No Survivors Sighted in Wreckage of C-47.” Oelwein Daily Register, IA. 3-6-1954, p1.

Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database:
“Date: Thursday 4 March 1954
“Time: 14:30
“Type: Douglas C-47A-45-DL (DC-3)
“Operator: United States Air Force – USAF
“Registration: 42-24096
“msn: 9058
“First flight: 1943
….
“Crew: Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
“Passengers: Fatalities: 16 / Occupants: 16
“Total: Fatalities: 20 / Occupants: 20
….
“Location: near Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée (France)
“Crash site elevation: 2438 m (7999 feet) amsl
“Phase: En route (ENR)
“Nature: Military
“Departure airport: Roma-Ciampino Air Base…Italy
“Destination airport: Frankfurt-Hahn Airport…Germany
“Narrative:

“The C-47 transport plane flew into the side of a mountain at an elevation of 8,000 ft. The accident occurred in snow and low overcast conditions. The plane had drifted off the prescribed course and no wind drift correction had been made. The airplane operated on a flight from Tripoli, Libya to Hahn, Germany with an en route stop at Rome, Italy.”

Newspaper

March 5, UP: “Marseille, France – (UP) – Airmen and skiers fanned out over the French Alps today seeking traces of a U.S. Air Force transport missing for 24 hours over southern Europe with 20 persons aboard. The two-engined C47, carrying 16 passengers and a crew of four, left Rome yesterday on a flight to Bitburg, Germany. The plane was last heard from at 12:42 p.m. (4:42 a.m. Tucson time) yesterday, when the pilot radioed that he was ‘on course’ over the French Mediterranean island of Corsica. The plane’s fuel supply would have kept it in the air only until 7:30 p.m. and there appeared to be no doubt that it had crashed.

“The plane’s scheduled course would have taken it up France’s Rhone valley, skirting the rugged Alpine mountain chain that fences Germany off from Italy. Reports reaching rescue headquarters here indicated, however, that the plane headed directly over the Alps – perhaps accidentally or perhaps to avoid a storm in the Marseille area. The focus of the search shifted to the mountains after an early sweep of the Mediterranean sea between Corsica and the French coast produced no trace of the missing plane.” (United Press, Marseille, France. “American C47 Missing Over Alps. 20 Aboard.” Tucson Daily Citizen, AZ. 3-5-1954, p. 1.)

March 6, UP: “Marseille, France – (UP) – Ground rescuers today reported they spotted the wreckage of a plane believed to be a missing U.S. Air Force C47 but they saw no sign that any of the 20 persons aboard survived. The wreckage was reported located by a search party looking trough binoculars. It was 9,240 feet up in France’s ‘graveyard of planes’ in the Alps about 40 miles north of Nice.

“None of the rescuers was expected to reach the wreckage before Sunday morning at the earliest since they must cross a mountain range at 11,440 feet through snow crags to reach the crash site southwest of the village of St. Etinnne de Tinee.

“Even if any of the 16 passengers and 4 crewmen survived the crash officials doubted that a person could remain alive after nearly three days of exposure to the numbing cold. The plane flying from Rome to Bitburg, Germany, crashed Thursday.

“A search party reported seeing one wing poking through the snow in the treacherous Three Men Peak – named after three climbers who died there. The wreckage was lodged on a sheer slope falling steeply into a valley.

“The region got the ‘plane graveyard’ nickname after a French airliner bound for Indochina struck a nearby peak last fall killing more than 30 passengers, including famed violinist Jacques Thibaud. Previous accidents in the region also had taken heavy tolls.

“Some 200 skiers from Nice participated in the effort to reach the wreckage. They included a company of elite Republic Security Guards equipped with special climbing gear, 20 firemen from the Nice brigade, and a score of doctors and other supplies.

“French rescue headquarters at Aix-en-Provence, which has been directing a vast search with planes from France, Italy and Germany, said the wreckage was the missing C-47.” (UP. “No Survivors Sighted in Wreckage of C-47.” Oelwein Daily Register, IA. 3-6-1954, p1.)

March 8, AP: “Nice, France – (AP) – Lack of gasoline for a U.S. Air Force helicopter delayed rescuers today in attempts to recover the bodies of 16 of the 20 Americans killed last week to the crash of a C47 Air Force transport. The bodies of four victims were recovered yesterday. Yesterday. They had been found near the wreckage of the plane which went down Thursday in the Alpine mountain region north of here.” (Associated Press. “News Briefs.” The Gettysburg Times, PA. 3-8-1954, p. 6.)
Sources

Associated Press. “News Briefs.” The Gettysburg Times, PA. 3-8-1954, p. 6. Accessed 7-2-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/gettysburg-times-mar-08-1954-p-6/

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database. USAF C47 flies into mountain in snowstorm near Saint-Etienne-de-Tinee France, 4 March 1954. Accessed 7-2-2023 at: https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19540304-3

United Press, Marseille, France. “American C47 Missing Over Alps. 20 Aboard.” Tucson Daily Citizen, AZ. 3-5-1954, p. 1. Accessed 7-2-2023 at:
https://newspaperarchive.com/tucson-daily-citizen-mar-05-1954-p-1/

United Press. “No Survivors Sighted in Wreckage of C-47. 20 Aboard Missing Air Force Craft.” Oelwein Daily Register, IA. 3-6-1954, p1. Accessed 7-2-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/oelwein-daily-register-mar-06-1954-p-1/