Istres - Istres

On January 30, 1948 at 12:54 PM, Istres - Istres experienced a crash involving Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, operated by United States Air Force - USAF, with the event recorded near Chanolles Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.

The flight was categorized as survey / patrol / reconnaissance and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

10 people were known to be on board, 9 fatalities were recorded, 1 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 90.0%.

Crew on board: 5, crew fatalities: 4, passengers on board: 5, passenger fatalities: 5, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is weather. The aircraft left Istres-Le Tubé Airbase in the morning to try to locate an USAF C-47 that disappeared in the region three days earlier. In fact, this C-47 registered 44-76443 crashed on the Cheval Blanc mountain, killing all 11 occupants. Around noon, the crew of the B-17 localized the wreckage of the C-47 on the east slope of the mountain and while flying to close from the terrain, the aircraft went out of control, maybe due to downdraft, and hit the north slope of the same mountain, near the village of Chanolles. The aircraft was destroyed on impact and eight of the ten occupants were killed. Two crew members, among them a pilot, survived. The pilot decided to leave the area to find help but his dead body was found in an isolated area on March 25, 1948. The only survivor, Sgt Angelo La Salle, was rescued few hours later.

Aircraft reference details include registration 44-83787, MSN 32428.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 44.1526°, 6.4201°.