1946 Three plane crashes in Vnukovo

70 years ago, on November 5, 1946, within an hour, three aviation accidents occurred near Moscow's Vnukovo airport, in which 19 people died. They were the result of bad weather conditions and a large influx of aircraft in Vnukovo, where guests from the regions arrived for the celebrations on November 7th. As a result, the planes had to stay in the air for a long time, waiting in line to land.

First, Li-2 from Turkmenistan crashed. All five crew members were killed. Then a Douglas C-47 crashed while flying Berlin - Riga - Moscow. The victims were 13 people out of 26 on board. The last to crash was a Li-2 flying from Vilnius. Only one passenger out of 22 people on board died here. The disaster was facilitated by the fact that when 17 aircraft were simultaneously in the air over Vnukovo, the airport management did not take measures to send airliners to alternate airfields. He was tasked with ensuring the arrival of guests by November 7 at any cost.