Berlin – Prague – Vienna – Munich

On April 20, 1945 at 12:00 AM, Berlin – Prague – Vienna – Munich experienced a crash involving Junkers JU.52, operated by Deutsche Lufthansa, with the event recorded near Steinreich Brandenburg.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was flight at a plain, valley crash site.

20 people were known to be on board, 18 fatalities were recorded, 2 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 90.0%.

Crew on board: 3, crew fatalities: 3, passengers on board: 17, passenger fatalities: 15, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is terrorism act, hijacking, sabotage. The three engine aircraft left Berlin-Tempelhof in the evening on a flight to Munich with intermediate stops in Prague and Vienna. While cruising about 60 km south of Berlin, the aircraft was shot down by the pilot of a Soviet fighter and crashed in flames in a field located in Steinreich. Two passengers were seriously injured while 18 other occupants were killed, among them the German filmmaker Hans Steinhoff. This was the last flight for Lufthansa from Berlin before the end of the WWII.

Aircraft reference details include registration D-ANAJ.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 51.9511°, 13.4963°.