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| Date: | Sunday 22 May 1983 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Canadair CF-104 Starfighter |
| Owner/operator: | Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) |
| Registration: | 104813 |
| MSN: | 683A-1113 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 6 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | 0,5 km from Waldstadion/Frankfurt a.Main -
 Germany
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | CFB Baden-Söllingen |
| CFB Baden-Söllingen |
The five plane, Canadian Starfighters Air Demonstration Team, was performing at the USAF Rhein-Main Air Base open house on 23-May-1983. The air base shared runway facilities with Frankfurt International Airport. As the four-plane diamond formation passed the show line, the solo aircraft prepared to perform two 360 degree turns with the last turn being a slow fly by. During the last turn, speed was reduced to 350 kts and in order to line up on the show line, the pilot pulled a little tighter to prevent over shooting. At this point the aircraft appeared to pitch up, departed controlled flight as the nose pointed down, crashed and exploded onto highway B43, a major road passing through a forested area within the city. The crash resulted in the deaths of Pastor Martin Jürges and his entire family of five in a car that was engulfed in the fireball. A niece that was able to escape the car died 81 days later from severe burns. The aircraft crashed only a half kilometer from the cities main soccer stadium and adjacent to tennis courts where a tournament was being held. Parts of the exploding aircraft landed in the tennis courts and the engine, in particular, destroyed many cars in the nearby parking lot. Miraculously, no one was injured at this location. Pilot Captain Alan Stephenson ejected safely.
Sources:
Der Spiegel nr. 36/1988
Canadian Forces DFS Flight Comment, 1983, No. 4 (Pg 16)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Rhein-Main_Starfighter_crash
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJtTYzUIwBQ
BFU NX009-83
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 29-Dec-2008 07:15 | harro | Updated |
| 05-Sep-2010 15:07 | TB | Updated [Time, Location, Phase, Narrative, ] |
| 17-Aug-2011 05:49 | Uli Elch | Updated [Narrative, ] |
| 23-Aug-2011 07:22 | Uli Elch | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, ] |
| 17-Aug-2013 14:23 | Uli Elch | Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative, ] |
| 14-Oct-2014 12:21 | Anon. | Updated [Date, Time, Cn, Operator, Source, Embed code, Narrative, ] |
| 30-Oct-2014 08:31 | R.Depak | Updated [Operator, ] |
| 05-Nov-2014 17:08 | HB | Updated [Operator, ] |
| 25-Apr-2015 18:14 | TB | Updated [Operator, Total occupants, Location, Source, Embed code, Narrative, ] |
| 28-Aug-2015 16:02 | Anon. | Updated [Narrative, ] |
| 28-Aug-2015 16:02 | harro | Updated [Nature, ] |
| 12-Feb-2016 08:11 | yukonjack | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 12-Feb-2019 13:21 | TB | Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, ] |
| 28-Oct-2019 20:55 | Uli Elch | Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, ] |
| 25-Jul-2021 19:54 | TB | Updated [Location, Narrative, ] |
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