Date:	Monday 7 October 1946
Time:	11:20
Type:	Fairey Firefly Mk I
Owner/operator:	861 Sqn Marine Luchtvaartdienst
Registration:	F-15
MSN:	F.6212
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:	22
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Apeldoorn Christian High School, Apeldoorn, Gelderland -   Netherlands
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Valkenburg NAS, Katwijk, Netherlands (EHVB)
Destination airport:	Valkenburg NAS, Katwijk, Netherlands (EHVB)

Narrative:
Fairey Firefly FR.Mk.1 F-15; Built for FAA RN (Fleet Air Arm Royal Navy) as PP526. Sold to the Marine Luchtvaartdienst - MLD (Dutch Navy), and handed over at RNAS Fearn, Scotland on 22/2/1946. Taken on charge by 861 Squadron MLD, and based at Valkenburg NAS, Katwijk, Netherlands (EHVB)

Written off (destroyed) 7/10/1946: crashed into the Apeldoorn Christian High School, Jachtlaan, Apeldoorn, Netherlands, killing 23 people in total: the pilot, 21 school pupils, and the pilot's mother (who died of a cardiac arrest/"heart attack")

The crash was caused by the 23-year-old sergeant-pilot Max Christern who had permission to make a half-hour solo flight near the Valkenburg airbase, to get acquainted with the Firefly airplane. But against all rules, he flew directly to Apeldoorn to greet his mother. He performed a few stunts above the market square and did some low flying stunts near the Jachtlaan. In one maneuver he lost control. The right wing hit the school and the Firefly crashed on the roof of the gym, where 27 boys of class 2C were training. The fuel tank ripped open and flaming fuel flowed through the broken roof. Burning students jumped into the school pond. Twenty-two fourteen-year old boys died. The pilot Max Christern died instantly. His mother died of a heart attack when she heard the tragic news.

According to a contemporary newspaper report (The Argus Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Wednesday, 9, Oct 1946, Page 1)

"21 Now Dead In Dutch
Plane Crash
Amsterdam (AAP)
TWELVE more Apeldoorn schoolboys have died from injuries received when a Dutch military plane crashed on a school on Monday, bringing the death toll to 21.

The pilot and eight boys were killed outright, and the pilot's mother, who saw the crash, died from a heart attack. Seven persons are still seriously hurt. They include a master, who was only slightly injured when the crash occurred, but who dashed back to the wrecked gymnasium, where his petrol soaked clothes caught fire while rescuing injured boys.

The pilot was on his first solo flight, says the British United Press correspondent. He took off from an aerodrome near The Hague, with strict instructions to stay over the drome, but headed straight for his mother's home and began stunt flying. A wing hit the school, and flaming petrol showered over the gymnasium."

The coffins with the bodies were ceremonially placed together in the school. A ceremony was held in a local church and the boys were all buried together on the local Christian cemetery on 11 October 1946. A week after the tragedy, classes were resumed. In the first years after the crash, memorial ceremonies were planned yearly at the anniversary of the crash.

Later on, only the 25th and the 40th anniversary were remembered in commemorative ceremonies. In 1948, a memorial was erected on the cemetery with the two names of boys who were buried at other cemeteries. In 1949, a memorial plaque with the names of victims engraved was unveiled in the school. And finally, in 1986, a memorial book was published with testimonies of survivors and family of victims.

Firefly F-15 was formally Struck off Charge by the MLD on 2/12/1946

1. The Argus Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Wednesday, 9, Oct 1946, Page 1)
2. "Stunting Pilot Killed As He Causes 13 to Die - 12 Boys Burn to Death When Plane Hits School; Own Mother Drops Dead", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 8, 1946, p1
3. "Plane Strikes School; 21 Die" Pittsburgh Press, October 8, 1946, p1
4. "Accident Toll Now Totals 23", Sarasota Herald, October 9, 1946, p8
5. http://www.zero-meridean.nl/c_apeldoorn_071046.html
6. http://www.veteranenmeteenmissie.nl/upload/file/MLD.pdf
7. http://uair01.blogspot.com/2011/01/guilty-places.html
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_1946#October_7,_1946_(Monday)
9. The Straits Times, 9 October 1946, Page 1: https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19461009-1.2.11
10. https://kw.jonkerweb.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=653:fairey-firefly-uk&lang=en&Itemid=549&showall=1&limitstart=
11. http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/neth/mld/types/fireflyF1.htm

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
22-Mar-2012 01:40	harro	Added
23-Apr-2019 16:02	Cobar	Updated [Cn, Embed code]
30-May-2019 08:26	Cobar	Updated [Aircraft type]
11-Sep-2020 17:58	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative]
11-Sep-2020 17:59	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
21-Sep-2020 10:59	TB	Updated [Operator, Operator]
13-Jun-2022 08:00	Ron Averes	Updated [Location]
11-Oct-2023 14:16	Anon.	Updated [[Location]]