Fighting to control their aircraft in a raging storm,the
crew of a JU-52 of the French Air Force were forced to make
a crash landing on a lonely mountain top nr Enniskerry on
the eastern fringes of Ireland.
The JU-52 werker number 1429, and coded B-46 had taken off
from Le Bourget airport shortly before 9.am on Monday 12th
August 1946. The 4 crew & the plane had been charted to fly
23 French Girl Guides to Ireland for a camping holiday,and
though weather conditions were good when the aircraft took
off, they were to rapidely deteriorate along the way, in fact
on entering the North Atlantic soon after crossing the Channel,
storms were building up around Eire,with lashing rain and 50
mph winds, houses had been flooded and yachts torn from their
moorings in the bays.
The aircraft and its 27 occupants should have arrived at the
airfield of Collinstown, nr Dublin at noon, but due to the
hostile eliments had got lost in cloud and unbeknown to the
airport, the JU-52 had crash-landed at 1,800ft at a little
after 1.30pm, Though some of the passengers and crew were
injured, all had somehow managed to survive, and the aircraft
was more or less intact allowing at least some shelter from
the storm.
Whilst the pilot and one of the girls set off in one direction
to find help, another girl Chantel de Vitay made her way down
another way and eventually raised the alarm at the Mount Maulin
Hotel,five miles from Enniskerry, and a contingment of Civic
Guard and local fire brigade made their way to the scene to get
the others down.
All were eventuaslly rescued, and although some recieved very
bad injuries which left scars for life, all survived.
Pilot: Capt. Christian Habez.
2/Pilot: Georges Beagioni.
Navigator: Michel Jourret.
Radio: Daniel Durran.
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Junkers JU-52 1429 - Eire
