Crash site	Piz Cengalo, Switzerland
Airline	Deutsche Lufthansa
Aircraft	Junkers Ju 52 – D-AVFB – Otto von Beaulieu-Marconay
Route	Frankfurt/Rhein-Main – Milano
Crew	3 – no survivors
Passengers	10 – no survivors

 

The crash

The plane left the Frankfurt/Rhein-Main airport at 12:25 and was last spotted around 14:45. From here there was no more contact. The plane had crashed into the Piz Cengalo mountain in the Bernina Alps in the southern Swiss canton Grisons (Graubünden). Search and rescue teams worked for several weeks but without success. On 9 July 1939 a mountain climber found small debris from the plane. The following days some more small parts were located, but the main wreck has never been found.

 

The mail

On 14 July 1952 a local mountain guide found a mail bag from the crashed plane in the same area where the debris was found in 1939. The bag contained 150 letters – including some registered letters with cheques.
The Swiss Post returned this mail to the countries from which they originated. I have seen a few items from the Netherlands from this bag, and they were returned to the senders with an explanatory letter. It seems as if further mail was returned from Switzerland to the Nethelands during the years 1953-1955.
On 29 July 1958 another mountain guide found some mail – including a few letters sent from Denmark to Italy. These were returned to the Danish Post, and in December 1958 the Danish Post returned the letters to the original senders – more than 20 years after!

 

 

Examples of mail

The remains of two covers sent by the East Asiatic Company, Copenhagen metermarked KØBENHAVN 1 30.9.38 and both addressed to Italy. The covers were returned to the East Asiatic Company together with a large explanatory letter from the G.P.O. Copenhagen dated 10 December 1958. Thiesen collection.
The remains of two covers sent by the Danish National Bank, Copenhagen metermarked KØBENHAVN 1 30.9.38 and addressed to Milano and Genova, Italy. The covers were returned to the sender together with a large explanatory letter from the G.P.O. Copenhagen dated 10 December 1958. Returned in a large glassine service cover type J 6 (6-48) – Size: 210 x 150 mm. Thiesen collection.
Nierinck (2nd editon) illustrates this explanatory letter from the Vesterbro Post Office, Copenhagen. The text is identical to the similar letters above. This letter came with a returned cover to the company A.B.C. Hansen, Copenhagen.