AVIATION/ REMEMBERING AIR FRANCE FL406 FIFTY YEARS LATER

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the loss of an AIR FRANCE Lockheed L-1649A Starliner over the Sahara Desert. The crash was believed to be the result of an explosive device. On May 10, 1961, Air France Flight 406 was on Scheduled International Service from Brazzaville, Congo, to Paris, France, with stops at Fort Lamy Airport, Chad, and Marseille, France. The Starliner, registration F-BHBM and pictured above in 1960, had completed its service from Brazzaville to Fort Lamy, now known as N'Djamena, without incident. It then departed Fort Lamy with 69 passengers and 9 crew members onboard. While enroute at 2:30am, overhead the Sahara at 20000 feet, and about 62 miles North of Edjele, Algeria, the empennage failed on the Starliner, causing it to break up and crash into the Desert below. All 78 passengers and crew onboard were killed. Investigators believed that the empengage failed due to the result of the detonation of a nitrocellulose explosive device. No group or individual ever claimed responsibility and investigators were unable to determine if a passenger or crew member brought an explosive device onboard Flight 406. The case remains unsolved.