| Air France Flight 406 | |
| Occurrence Type: | Bombing |
| Date: | 10 May 1961 |
| Type: | Bombing in flight |
| Site: | Sahara Desert |
| Aircraft Type: | Lockheed L-1649 Starliner |
| Aircraft Name: | De Grasse |
| Operator: | Air France |
| Tail Number: | F-BHBM |
| Origin: | Brazzaville, Congo |
| Stopover0: | Fort Lamy Airport, Fort Lamy (now N'Djamena), Chad |
| Last Stopover: | Marseille-Marignane Airport, Marseille, France (did not arrive) |
| Destination: | Paris, France |
| Passengers: | 69 |
| Crew: | 9 |
| Fatalities: | 78 |
| Survivors: | 0 |
Air France Flight 406 was a Lockheed L-1649 Starliner that crashed in French Algeria on May 10, 1961, after a bomb exploded on board. All 78 passengers and crew on board were killed. It was the deadliest aviation disaster involving a Lockheed Starliner.[1]
Air France Flight 406 was an international scheduled passenger flight originating in Brazzaville, Congo, on a route with the final destination Paris, France. Intermediate stops were Fort Lamy, Chad, and Marseille, France. The flight was flown by a Lockheed L-1649 Starliner, F-BHBM De Grasse.
After taking off from Fort Lamy, and while cruising at an altitude of approximately 20000feet, the Starliner broke up after its empennage failed. The plane crashed to earth approximately from Edjele oilfield, near the Libya border.[2] All aboard Flight 406 were killed.[3]
Eighteen children were among the dead. Among them were the three young children of the United States Charge d'Affaires in the Central African Republic, who, along with their mother (the charge's wife), were on Flight 406 headed for London. Also among the dead were a count and countess, plus two Central African Republic government ministers. Rumors began to surface after Flight 406's crash that it had been an assassination by enemies of the Central African Republic.[4]
The most probable cause of Air France Flight 406 crashing was sabotage with a nitrocellulose explosive.[5]