Crash site	Altenkirchen, Germany
Airline	British Airways
Aircraft	De Havilland DH.86 Express  –  G-ADEB  –  Diana
Route	Hanover  –  Cologne  –  London/Gatwick
Crew	2  –  0 survivors
Passengers	0

 

The crash

The plane was on a nightly mail flight from Hanover to Cologne. Around 03:00 the plane crashed into a mountainside near Altenkirchen 50 km southeast of Cologne. The pilot Charles S. Gill survived the crash but died of his injuries on 17 August.

 

The mail

The plane was carrying mail sent from Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Estonia. The reports from the crash site said that the mail was entirely destroyed in the crash. But it seems as if a few items were recovered afterwards. The British mail was processed at London Postal Service, Mount Pleasant, London. So far two covers sent from Norway are known.

 

 

Examples of mail

Cover from Norway postmarked VOSS 10 8 36 to Scotland. The cover was forwarded in a service cover together with an explanatory letter dated 21 August. Note that the damaged cover is numbered 21 in red crayon, but the service cover is marked 22 & 23 which could indicate, that there was more items addressed to the same recipient ?
Registered cover from Tønsberg, Norway postmarked 10.VIII.36 and addressed to London. No special markings. Thiesen Collection.
This manuscript note is shown by Nierinck without further information, but it might be written by a collector ? Note that it mentions Brit. Imp. Airways which is wrong as it was a British Airways plane.