Alma Ata – Semipalatinsk – Kuybyshev

On July 20, 1944 at 07:15 AM, Alma Ata – Semipalatinsk – Kuybyshev experienced a crash involving Junkers JU.52, operated by Aeroflot - Russian International Airlines, with the event recorded near Koksu Almaty Province.

The flight was categorized as ferry and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

6 people were known to be on board, 6 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 4, passengers on board: 2, passenger fatalities: 2, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The crew was performing a ferry flight from Alma Ata to Kuybyshev with an intermediate stop in Semipalatinsk. En route, the pilot in command deviated from the prescribed flight path to the east in order to circumvent an area of poor weather and overflew high mountains. As he was unable to gain sufficient height, the three engine aircraft stalled and crashed at a height of some 2,700 meters into the steep wall of a gorge near a pass over the khrebet Dzhil-Dhuta mountain range (3,050 meters), about 15 km northwest of Koksu. All six occupants were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration CCCP-L40, MSN 3325.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 43.3172°, 76.5948°.