Crash site	Holtug, Stevns, Denmark
Airline	Air France
Aircraft	Douglas DC-3A – F-BAOB
Route	Copenhagen – Paris/Le Bourget
Crew	5 – no survivors
Passengers	17 – no survivors

 

The crash

The plane took off from Copenhagen as scheduled at 10:00. The captain Jean Faucher was not satisfied with the plane, so after one hour he decided to return to Copenhagen airport. The plane was checked and a burned out magneto in the left motor was replaced.
The plane left Copenhagen again at 16:25, but a few minutes later the left engine caught fire. The pilot tried unsuccessfully to extinguish the fire which spread rapidly. The left wing broke off and caused the plane to spin in circles into the ground. At 16:33 the plane crashed close to a small farm Vilhelmshaab near Holtug around 40 km south of Copenhagen. The wreck was spread over a wide area.
The crash investigation concluded that the fire was caused by a leak in a fuel pipeline.

 

The mail

On board the plane was mail from Denmark destined for France, the French colonies in Africa and French Indochina. Besides airmail the plane also carried letters and postcards paid as surface mail.
Only a part of the mail could be recovered, and most of it was in badly burned condition. The mail was brought back to Copenhagen were it was sorted out. The Danish Post decided to return most of the mail to the senders due to the damage. Only a few postcards were forwarded to France.
The Danish Post produced two different labels. One with Danish text which was used on mail returned to the senders. The other with text in French was used on mail forwarded to France.
In general the mail was sent in the standard Danish service cover type J 6 (1-44).

I have so far recorded 11 items from this crash including one cover to Morocco. It is interesting that 4 of the items are addressed to U.S. Army Post Offices. I guess these units were stationed in France, but further research is needed.

 

A.
Danish label with text in Danish.

Size textblock: 113 x 20 mm.

 

 

B.
Danish label with text in French.

Size textblock: 101 x 20 mm.

 

The size of the labels vary as they were printed on large size paper and later cut from these sheets.

 

 

Examples of mail

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Cover from Copenhagen postmarked KØBENHAVN 2.9.46 to Paris. The cover was returned to sender in service cover J 6 together with label A. Thiesen Collection.
Cover from Copenhagen to Paris. The cover was returned to sender in service cover J 6 together with label A. Thiesen Collection.
Cover from Lyngby to France. As adress could not be identified the cover was returned to sender in service cover J 6 together with label A. Thiesen Collection.
Cover from Copenhagen to Danish woman working with U.S. Army unit via A.P.O. 172. The cover was returned to sender with label A. Thiesen Collection.
Cover from Copenhagen to Casablanca, Morocco (unusual destination). The cover was returned to sender in service cover J 6 together with label A. Thiesen Collection.
Undated postcard from Vejle, Denmark with illegible postmark addressed to Paris.The postcard was forwarded to France in service cover J 6 together with label B. Schmid Collection.
Postcard from Copenhagen to Marseille. The postcard was forwarded to France in service cover J 6 together with label B. Thiesen Collection.
Postcard from Helsingör to U.S. Army unit. The postcard was forwarded to France in service cover J 6 together with label B. Thiesen Collection.
Quite a unique cover involved in this crash ! The cover was sent from France with postmark PARIS 30 AOUT 46 and addressed to La Haye, Netherlands. It was missorted and ended up in a mail bag for Copenhagen, Denmark. The Danish Post put the letter in a return bag for Paris, which was on board the plane that crashed. The recovered mail was sent to Copenhagen, and from here this cover was returned to France in service cover type J 6 together with label B. Thiesen Collection.