Vienna – Munich – Strasbourg – Dijon – Istres – Pisa

On November 19, 1946 at 02:45 PM, Vienna – Munich – Strasbourg – Dijon – Istres – Pisa experienced a crash involving Douglas C-53 Skytrooper (DC-3), operated by United States Army Air Forces - USAAF, with the event recorded near Gauli Glacier Bern.

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

11 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 11 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 7, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is weather. After passing Innsbruck and the Austrian Alps, the crew encountered poor weather conditions and lost his orientation. The aircraft continued over Switzerland, avoid several peaks and eventually encountered katabatic winds. At a speed of 280 km/h, the aircraft lost height and crashed on the Gauli Glacier located about 10 km east of the Grindelwald winter station, at an altitude of 3,350 meters. One hour after the accident, the crew (who thought he crashed in the French Alps), sent a message that was received by ATC in Paris-Orly Airport and Istres-Le Tubé Airbase as well. French authorities made some calculation and deduced that the aircraft has crashed in the Swiss Alps and informed the Swiss authorities. Two days later, an officer based in the control tower of the Meiringen airbase located about 12 km north of the crash site received a message on his frequency as well and gave the alert. Skiers, helped with the crew of a RAF Lancaster and a USAAF B-29 were able to located the wreckage five days later. Suffering injuries due to their stay in negative temperatures, all 11 occupants were evacuated to local hospitals.

Aircraft reference details include registration 42-68846, MSN 11773, year of manufacture 1943.