Crash of a Dewoitine D.342 in Ameur el Aïn: 25 killed
Date & Time:
Sep 27, 1942
Operator:
Registration:
F-ARIZ
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Paris – Marseille – Algiers – Dakar
MSN:
01
YOM:
1939
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
18
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
25
Circumstances:
Few minutes after take off from Algiers-Maison Blanche Airport, while climbing in good weather conditions bound for Dakar, the three-engine aircraft went out of control and crashed in flames in Ameur el Aïn, west of Blida. All 25 occupants were killed. Most of the passengers were family members (children and spouses) of Air France's employees transferred in Dakar. Among them the wife and the son of the French General Jean Barrau, Chief of French troops based in the French West Africa.
Crew:
Gaston Chenu, pilot,
Robert Arnoult, pilot,
Pierre Casanova, pilot,
Fernand Renier, flight engineer,
André Beaufils, flight engineer,
Albert Jellade, radio navigator,
Robert Haeflinger, barman.
Crew:
Gaston Chenu, pilot,
Robert Arnoult, pilot,
Pierre Casanova, pilot,
Fernand Renier, flight engineer,
André Beaufils, flight engineer,
Albert Jellade, radio navigator,
Robert Haeflinger, barman.
Probable cause:
The exact cause of the accident was not determined. However, the assumption that the accident was caused by the explosion of a bomb was raised. At the time of the accident, the French General Charles Noguès was supposed to take this airplane to Dakar but during the stopover in Algiers, he changed his itinerary and embarked on the Martin 167 of the French General Bergeret bound for Casablanca. His personal stuff were still in the Dewoitine at the time of the accident.
