On 7 October 1946 a Fairey Firefly of the Netherlands Naval Aviation Service crashed next to the Hogere Burgerschool in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. The burning fuel tank fell into the gym where 27 students were at the time. Of the 27 students, 22 lost their lives, together with the pilot Max Christern. The pilot's mother died of a heart attack later that day, after she arrived at the scene of the crash and was told about his fate.
Background
The Netherlands Naval Aviation Service had bought 30 British Fairey Firefly planes. The plane is known to be fast, easy maneuverable and has a powerful Rolls-Royce engine. Fifteen of these planes arrived in the Netherlands after a journey of months aboard the aircraft carrier Karel Doorman. The planes would be used at Morokrembagan base on Java, Dutch East Indies. The involved pilot Max Christern would be the pilot of one of the planes.
Flight and crash
The Fairey Firefly departed from Valkenburg Naval Air Base for an half-hour practice flight. The pilot, sergeant Max Christern, made his first solo flight. The pilot was given the order to fly in the neighbourhood of the air base to become familiar with the aircraft and then return to the airbase. However, the pilot flew to Apeldoorn where his mother lived. In Apeldoorn he made some dives above the market square. Afterwards he flew in the direction where his mother lived. Christern was flying very low, and probably saw the school tower of the Hogere Burgerschool too late. With an extreme maneuver he managed to avoid the tower, but his right wing touches the left corner of the school building. The wing broke off, tearing open the fuel tank at the bottom of the wing. The fuel tank fell on the roof of the gym and burning fuel flowed into the gym. In the gym were 27 students and the teacher of class 2C at the time. The airplanes crashed with Christen inside, into the trees right behind the school building.
Inside the gym there was an enormous fire and an enormous smoke development. As a result panic broke out. Most of the students managed to escape the classroom, some while burning. Not everyone managed to escape. Four students who managed to escape jumped into the nearby pond to put out the fire.
Victims
Due to the crash the pilot and 22 schoolchildren died. Four students and the teacher were seriously injured and hospitalized.
While most of the 27 students initially managed to escape the gym, many of them had serious burns and two days later the death toll was 22. Four of the five students who survived the accident were injured. Initially teacher Hendrik Jan Dobbenga, was only slightly injured, but was seriously injured in his attempts to save children. Three times he managed to save a student from the hall, during his fourth attempt, he became seriously injured by a beam. He was in mortal danger but survived.
Pilot Christern was found dead in a pit next to the plane. The mother of the pilot had gone to the school with her daughter immediately after the crash. She died from a heart attack after she was told her son had died in the disaster.
The pilot Max Christern (born 1923) was Dutch-born and had German citizenship. As being a Reich German, Christern was called up during World War II for service in the German army. In an attempt for desertion he applied for pilot training and managed to get hold of a plane at the Russian front and flew towards England. He went into hiding after a forced landing in the Netherlands. In March 1945 he registered with the British Royal Air Force, where he was deployed as a scout after pilot training. After liberation of the Netherlands Christern signed-up with the Dutch army and was stationed at Valkenburg Naval Air Base where he had the rank of sergeant-flyer. In 1946 he would move with the HNLMS Karel Doorman (R81) to the Dutch East Indies flying the new Fairey Firefly. After approval, that was on day of the accident, he made his first Firefly solo flight.