| Crash site | Argana, Morocco |
| Airline | Air France |
| Aircraft | Dewoitine D.338 – F-ARIC – Ville de Dakar |
| Route | Dakar – Villa Cisneros – Agadir – Casablanca – Oran – Barcelona – Toulouse |
| Crew | 3 – no surviviors |
| Passengers | 6 – no survivors |
The crash
The plane left Dakar at 06:00. At 15:30 the crew was informed of deteriorating weather and negative temperatures. A few minutes later the plane crashed on a mountain near Argana, 160 km southwest of Marrakech. Two hours after the last contact Air France sent out two search planes from Casablance – a Wibault 283 reg.no. F-ANBM and a Dewoitine D.338 reg.no.F-AQBO, but they were unable to locate the plane. The wreck of the plane was later found by a native in the Argana-Imin region.
The crash report concluded that the airplane was “victim of a sudden icing due to unpredictable weather conditions”.
The mail
A large part of the mail was recovered. A variety of crash markings are known from this crash – mostly of French origin (handstamps, service covers and manuscript notes).
I have only seen two covers with a Nordic relation (see below).
A.
French handstamp.
Black.
Size: 80 x 8 mm.
General handstamp used in Paris on mail with minor damage.
Text translation:
AIRPLANE CRASH
General handstamp used in Paris on mail with minor damage.
B.
French handstamp.
Violet.
Size: 62 x 28 mm.
Text translation:
FRENCH POSTAL SERVICE
Correspondence delayed
by plane accident.
Please do not tax.
Examples of mail
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Registered cover from Brazil with postmark dated 29 IV 1938 (year is an error – should be 1939). The cover is addressed to Copenhagen, Denmark. On the front + back is the French handstamp type A and on the back is an oval arrival handstamp used in Copenhagen (KØBENHAVN K 7 – MAJ 39). |
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Cover from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with stamps missing and illegible postmark. The stamps have probably been torn off by a stamp collector. The cover is addressed to Lysekil, Sweden. |
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