11/04/2010
The world's first air crash involving the death of a passenger is believed to have occurred on September 17, 1908, when Tom Selfridge died in an airplane flown by one of the Wright brothers. The last one was on April 10 near Smolensk. Over these hundred years, plane crashes have claimed many lives, including quite famous and prominent people.
1. Yuri Gagarin(34 years old). The first cosmonaut. On March 27, 1968, he died while making a training flight on a MiG-15UTI aircraft with instructor pilot Vladimir Seregin. There are still many versions of the causes and circumstances of the disaster.
2. Valery Chkalov(34 years old). Test pilot, made the first non-stop flight across North Pole from Moscow to Vancouver. On December 15, 1938, he died during the first test of the I-180 fighter. Chkalov's daughter Valeria Valerievna put forward the version that her father's death was organized by NKVD officers.
3. Alexander Lebed(52 years old) (pictured). General, politician, who signed the Khasavyurt agreements on a peaceful settlement in Chechnya with Aslan Maskhadov. Since 1998 - Governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. On April 28, 2002, an Mi-8 helicopter crashed after colliding with a power line. The state commission concluded that the cause of the disaster was “unsatisfactory preparation of the crew for the flight.”
4. Evgeniy Petrov(39 years old). Writer (real name Kataev, brother of Valentin Kataev), co-author of Ilya Ilf (“12 chairs”, “Golden Calf”). On July 2, 1942, the plane on which front-line correspondent Petrov was returning from besieged Sevastopol crashed or was shot down by a German fighter.
5. Svyatoslav Fedorov(72 years old). Ophthalmologist, politician. On June 2, 2000, the Eurocopter Gazelle helicopter, with Fedorov at the helm, crashed into a vacant lot near the Moscow Ring Road.
6. Artem Borovik(39 years old). Journalist, author of the books “The Hidden War”, “How I Was a US Army Soldier”, president of the publishing holding “Top Secret”. On March 9, 2000, he died in a plane crash of a Yak-40 plane at Sheremetyevo. Among the dead was also a famous businessman, founder of the Alliance oil company Ziya Bazhaev.
7. Gennady Troshev(61 years old). Colonel General, commander of federal troops during operations in Chechnya and Dagestan (1995-2002). On September 14, 2008, he died in a plane crash of an Aeroflot-Nord Boeing 737-500 in Perm, where Troshev was flying to a sambo tournament.
8. Lev Matsievich(32 years old). Russian aviator, on September 24, 1910, died in the first Russian plane crash during a demonstration flight at the All-Russian Aeronautics Festival in St. Petersburg. There is a legend that Matsievich was associated with the Social Revolutionaries and committed suicide because he did not fulfill the party assignment to kill Prime Minister Stolypin, who actually flew with him shortly before the plane crash. In fact, Macievich was associated with Ukrainian separatists, and the disaster occurred due to technical problems.
9. Victor Chistyakov(28 years old). Soviet actor, "genius of parody." He had an unsurpassed ability to imitate women's voices (Zykina, Shulzhenko, M. Mathieu). On May 18, 1972, the plane he was flying on crashed near Kharkov.
10. Sergey Biryuzov(60 years old). Marshal Soviet Union, Chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces. On October 19, 1964, he died in a plane crash near Belgrade.
11. Vladimir Petlyakov(50 years old). Soviet aircraft designer. Arrested in 1937, he designed the Pe-2 dive bomber in a sharazhka, for which he was released and awarded the Stalin Prize. On January 12, 1942, he flew from Kazan to Moscow to meet with senior Soviet leadership regarding the need to return aviation specialists from the front. The Pe-2 on which Petlyakov was flying fell and crashed. The most likely version is an engine fire, since the plane was not designed for low-altitude flights.
12. Konstantin Umansky(42 years old). Soviet diplomat, ambassador to the USA and Mexico, author of the study “New Russian Art”. On January 25, 1945, his plane crashed while taking off from Mexico City airport. Ilya Ehrenburg writes about a possible sabotage organized by Lavrentiy Beria.
13. Alexander Kosopkin(51 years old). Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation to State Duma, author of the book “Psychology of Lobbying in the State Duma.” On January 9, 2009, a Mi-171 helicopter crashed in Altai, killing seven out of 11 people, including Kosopkin. The purpose of the flight is illegal hunting of argali listed in the Red Book.
14. Alexander Kazakov(30 years old). Fighter ace, the most successful Russian pilot of the First World War: he shot down 17 enemy aircraft (another 15 in group battles). He was awarded the Order of St. George, the Military Cross (Great Britain) and the Legion of Honor (France). Member of the White movement, served in the Slavic-British air squad of the Northern Army. On August 1, 1919, he crashed at the airfield (30 years old). According to eyewitnesses, he committed suicide due to the evacuation of British troops from Murmansk. On August 1, 2009, a monument was restored at his grave.
15. Jan Fabricius(52 years old). Latvian rifleman, commander and commissar of the Red Army in the years Civil War. Since 1927, member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. On August 24, 1929, the plane he was flying on crashed into the Black Sea near Sochi. Drowned while saving other passengers.
16. Igor Tkachenko(45 years old). Commander of the Russian Knights aerobatic team. On August 16, 2009, during preparations for the MAKS-2009 air show, Tkachenko’s plane collided with another plane. The reason why he died, despite the ejection, has not yet been reliably clarified.
17. Igor Farkhutdinov(53 years old). In 1995-2003 Governor of Sakhalin. On August 20, 2003, a Mi-8 helicopter disappeared, with the leadership of the Sakhalin region on board. On August 23, the charred remains of the helicopter were discovered 150 km south of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. All 17 passengers and 3 crew members were killed.
18.Igor Esipovsky(49 years old). Governor of the Irkutsk region. On May 10, 2009, he died in a helicopter crash near the Malyshkino tract on Lake Baikal (49 years old). The flight was not coordinated with the air traffic control service. It was suggested that the governor was hunting bears.
19. Emil Spiridonov(55 years old). Commander of the Pacific Fleet. On January 30, 1981, a Tu-104 crashed during takeoff from the Pushkin military airfield near Leningrad, killing 52 Pacific Fleet officers, including 16 generals and admirals.
20. Petr Baranov(40 years old) Since 1924, head of the Red Army Air Force, candidate member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. On September 5, 1933, he crashed on an ANT-7 plane. A government commission headed by Tukhachevsky admitted that “the cause of the disaster was extremely difficult meteorological conditions, under which the departure of an aircraft not prepared for blind flight was unacceptable.” Nevertheless, permission to fly was received, although no more aircraft took off from the airfield that day.
21. Alexander Myasnikov(39 years old). Real name is Myasnikyan. Soviet party and statesman. In December 1917 he acted temporarily supreme commander in chief, established Soviet power in Belarus. In the 20s, first secretary of the Transcaucasian regional committee of the RCP (b). On March 22, 1925, he died in a plane crash near Tbilisi.
22. Polina Osipenko(31 years old). Soviet pilot, one of the first female Heroes of the Soviet Union. Graduated primary school, begged People's Commissar of Defense Voroshilov to accept her into flight school. In 1937, she broke three world records for high-altitude flights with and without cargo, and in 1938 she made a non-stop flight from Moscow to Far East. On May 11, 1939, she died together with the head of the main flight inspection of the USSR Air Force, Serov, while practicing blind flights.
23. Svetlana Fedorenko(36 years old) Instructor pilot, absolute European champion in aircraft sports. On August 16, 2009, she died as a result of the crash of a Yak-52 light aircraft in the Kaluga region.
24. Alexander Zuev(40 years old). Captain of the USSR Air Force. In 1989, after feeding the duty officers a cake with sleeping pills, he hijacked a MiG-29 plane to Turkey, where he was tried and acquitted. Received political asylum in the USA. Consulted with the US Air Force prior to Operation Desert Storm. On June 10, 2001, he died in a plane crash 160 km north of Seattle (40 years old).
25. Joseph Utkin(41 years old) Soviet poet. On November 13, 1944, he died in a plane crash while returning from a partisan detachment. .
Compiled by Gleb STASHKOV
They say that before death everyone is equal. But if a tragedy occurs on earth, a person still has a chance. When trouble occurs in the sky, there is no way to escape.
Tragedies that happen in the sky with passenger planes almost always have resonance. Because a plane crash is a simultaneous, terrible and not always understandable death of hundreds of people.
At an altitude of thousands of kilometers, people have no escape route to escape from certain death. And in such a situation, I feel sorry for all those who died - adults and children, married and single, ordinary people and those whose names are known throughout the world.
At the very beginning of May this year, a Superjet burned out at the Sheremetyevo airport as a result of a hard landing. The deadly fire took forty-one lives. This once again reminded us how defenseless we earthlings are before the sky. Those who are commonly called celebrities are also defenseless. Today we will remember several stories in which the flight for a well-known person turned out to be the last.
World celebrities
Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala, who died over the English Channel on January 21 this year on the way to his new club Cardiff City, was flying in a small light aircraft that disappeared from radar.
The search operation was unsuccessful and was discontinued. But the athlete’s parents did not calm down, and in early February a private operation led by oceanographer David Mearns yielded results. The wreckage of the plane was found at the bottom of the sea. Emiliano's body was found there; an examination will confirm that it was him.
Perhaps Sala was not on the list of the most star football players. But the tragedy with him once again showed how defenseless we all are, both simple and famous, poor and rich, in the face of heights.
In June 2014, Richard Rockefeller flew his plane to celebrate the birthday of his famous billionaire father, David Rockefeller. He was already approaching the airfield when communication with the aircraft was lost.
Search engines will quickly find the crashed private plane and the body of the pilot. The famous doctor, teacher and very experienced pilot with extensive flight hours, Richard Rockefeller, missed the landing strip by just a kilometer.
The famous creator of The Little Prince, writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, served as a pilot during World War II. On July 31, he and his crew were performing a combat mission over the Tyrrhenian Sea when problems were discovered in the aircraft. It was not possible to reach the airfield. The entire crew, including the magnificent writer, died.
Charles Stewart Rolls is known for inventing the most famous car for the rich and famous, the Rolls Royce. However, his life was taken by a fatal tragedy in the sky.
In 1910, he was participating in an air show when his plane began to fall apart in the sky and then crashed into the ground. Charles had no chance.
Tragedies in Russia
No, no, but similar tragedies happen in our country. And also, along with ordinary people, those whose names, without exaggeration, are known to everyone, are dying.
Yuri Gagarin became the first person to travel into space. They say that none of the experts was one hundred percent sure that the astronaut would return to earth alive. But he came back. And he died on March 27, 1968, while performing a routine training flight on an airplane together with the most experienced instructor Vladimir Seregin.
On March 9, 2000, a Yak-40 plane crashed while flying from Moscow to Kyiv. Nine people died. Five crew members and four passengers. Among them was the famous Russian journalist, head of the publishing holding “Top Secret” Artem Borovik.
In September 2011, the whole country was shocked by the death of the entire Lokomotiv hockey team from Yaroslavl. 36 athletes, coaches and technical workers, as well as seven crew members, were killed.
One of the most shocking tragedies recent years, undoubtedly, was the crash of an airliner in the Black Sea on December 25, 2016. Everyone on board died - 8 crew members and 84 passengers.
Among them are the head of the Fair Aid Foundation Elizaveta Glinka, known as Doctor Lisa, 65 members of the famous Alexandrov Song and Dance Ensemble with its artistic director Lieutenant General Valery Khalilov, high-ranking officials and film crews of three federal channels.
The Yak-40 was flying to Syria on a humanitarian mission, and Alexandrov’s ensemble was supposed to perform for Russian military personnel who are fighting terrorists in this country. However, after refueling in Sochi, his flight lasted only seventy seconds...
1 Melanie Thornton
Famous singer Melanie Thornton died in a Crossair RJ-100 Avro plane crash a few kilometers from Zurich airport. 34-year-old singer for a long time was the lead singer of the famous pop group La Bouche. After the performance in Leipzig, she left for Berlin, from where she flew to Zurich to participate in the promotion of her single "Wonderful Dream (Holidays Are Coming)" and her new album "Ready To Fly". Shortly before leaving for Berlin, Melanie said in her last (as it later turned out) interview literally the following: “Nobody knows what will happen to you tomorrow. Therefore, I try to live every day as if it were the last in my life.” The program where the singer was scheduled to participate, "Die Bar" on TV3, was canceled, and the song "Wonderfull Dream", written by order of the German branch of the Coca Cola company for Christmas, remained on the air in Germany, Great Britain, Belgium and Holland. Since then, every year during the Christmas holidays, Melanie's song "Wonderful Dream" has consistently returned to the top positions of the German chart. 
2 Aliya
On August 25, 2001 at 6:45 p.m., after filming the "Rock the Boat" video, Aaliyah and several members of her record company boarded a Cessna 402B (N8097W) at Marsh Harbor, Abaco Island, Bahamas to fly to Opa. Loka, Florida. A flight was scheduled for the next day, but since filming ended ahead of schedule, Aliya and her entourage insisted on returning to the United States. Against the advice of the baggage handlers and the pilot, all equipment was loaded onto the plane. They did not know that the aircraft could not support all the equipment carried on the Cessna 404. Thus, the weight of the cargo on board exceeded Cessna's allowable weight. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff, about 60 meters from the runway. Aaliyah, pilot Louis Morales III, hairstylist Eric Foreman, Anthony Dodd, security guard Scott Gallin, video producer Douglas Kratz, stylist Christopher Maldonado and Blackground Records employees Keith Wells and Gina Smith were killed.
According to investigators, Aliya died from several burns and a blow to her head, not to mention severe shock and a weak heart. The investigator concluded that even if Aliya had survived, her recovery would have been virtually impossible due to her injuries. An official statement from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that the airplane was seen lifting off the runway, and then nose down, impacting in a marsh on the south side of the departure end of runway 27. It was also said that that the pilot did not have permission to fly the plane. Morales dishonestly obtained an FAA license to get a job with Blackhawk International Airways. In addition, the autopsy showed that Morales' body contained traces of cocaine and alcohol. Further investigations revealed that the cargo was 700 pounds overweight and there was one more passenger on board. John Frank of the Cessna Pilots Association said the plane was definitely overloaded. NCBT stated that total weight the load was significantly exceeded, which brought the center of gravity to the tail section. 
3 Lynyrd Skynyrd
On October 20, 1977, 3 days after the release of the album “Survivors from the Street” (on its cover the musicians starred against the backdrop of flames), the plane hired for the American tour crashed during the team’s flight from South. Carolina to Louisiana. According to the NTSB, the pilots misjudged the amount of fuel they filled at Greenville, Florida on October 18, 1977. They believed they had the normal amount of fuel to continue the flight than they actually had.
The plane also had some technical problems that led to excessive fuel consumption.
Realizing their mistake, the pilots tried to change course to the nearest airport, but before reaching it, the plane crashed in the marshlands of Mississippi.
As a result, three of the then 10 members of the group died (in addition to the musicians, the lineup also included a trio of backing vocalists), including founding father and main ideological inspirer Ronnie Van Zant, their constant assistant tour manager and both pilots. The musicians who survived the disaster were unable to continue their full-fledged activities due to injuries, and a decision was made to disband.
Subsequently, the song “Sweet Home Alabama” was heard in the famous American film “Con Air,” where the hero Garlon Greene (Steve Buscemi) aptly remarked: “The irony of fate: A bunch of idiots are dancing to the song of a band that crashed in a plane crash.” 
Ronnie Van Zant 
Steve Gaines 
Cassie Gaines
4 Jim Croce
Jim Croce died in a plane crash in Louisiana on September 20, 1973. The plane he was flying on, a Beechcraft E18S, was unable to gain the required altitude during takeoff and crashed into a tree. 
5 Charles Hardin Holly aka Buddy Holly
On February 2, 1959, the ensemble played in Clear Lake, Iowa. Everyone was exhausted to the limit. Holly decided to ditch the tedious bus and take a plane to his next destination, Moorhead, Minnesota. On February 3, 1959, the plane, which, in addition to Holly, was carrying rising rock and roll stars Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, did not reach its destination: it was caught in a storm and crashed in a field 8 miles from the airport. All the musicians died. 
6 Alton Glenn Miller
On December 15, 1944, he flew to France on a small single-engine Norseman C-64 aircraft from Twinwood Farm airbase. There was thick fog, even the birds, as Miller noticed before departure, sank to the ground. The plane in which he was flying never reached France; his trace was lost somewhere over the English Channel. Neither Miller's body nor the remains of his plane were found. His death, which happened so unexpectedly and strangely, still causes controversy and disbelief. 
7 Cline, Patsy - Cowboy Copas - Hawkshaw Hawkins
In March 1963, Patsy Cline and several other lesser-known country artists died in a plane crash near Camden. This singer remains a legend of American popular music to this day; several books and feature films are dedicated to her. The singer's posthumous fame grew with each decade. It is generally accepted that she opened the way for women to country music, previously considered the domain of men. Cline's best recordings have much in common with the American pop music of the mid-1960s, the development of which she had a significant influence on. 
8 John Denver
On October 12, 1997, a tragedy occurred during the flight of the experimental aircraft on which Denver was flying. There was an accident and the plane fell into the ocean. John Denver died at the age of 53.
9 Stevie Ray Vaughn
On August 27, 1990, a helicopter crash in which the musician departed from the festival (where he played with Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton and Robert Cray) ended his life.
The funeral took place on August 31 in Dallas at Laurel Land Cemetery. Only family and friends were present at the burial ceremony. Among them are many famous people: Jeff Hilly, Dr. John, ZZ Top, Ringo Starr, Stevie Wonder, Jackson Browne and Buddy Guy. Then-Texas Governor Ann Richards proclaimed October 3 (the musician's birthday) "Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Day."
10 Ricky Nelson
On December 31, 1985, the singer intended to give a New Year's concert in Dallas, but this was not possible. The plane he was flying there with crashed, and the teen idol of the 50s was gone. 
The plane is considered the safest form of transport, but every year it takes thousands of lives. We remember the tragedies of which Russian and Western famous people.
Let us remind you that on the last day of March it became known that the co-owner of the S7 company and one of the five richest women in Russia died in a plane crash. An official statement from the press service says that the private plane Epic LT, on which Natalya was flying with her father, crashed during landing in Frankfurt am Main. Other circumstances of the tragedy are still unknown.
Experts only managed to tell reporters that Egelsbach Airport, so beloved among owners of private jets, is considered one of the most dangerous in Europe - due to fog and the lack of a navigation system, which is used during instrument approaches. Meanwhile, the aircraft model itself is, according to experts, one of the most difficult to pilot.
Reading messages like this, you are once again convinced that in the face of a plane crash, everyone is equal. And the stars fall too. And not in a figurative sense, but in the most literal - and tragic - sense of the word.
Dr. Lisa, 2016
On December 25, 2016, Elizaveta Glinka, better known as Doctor Lisa, passed away. She and 91 other passengers (including artists from the Alexandrov ensemble and journalists from federal channels) of the TU-154 plane died in the Black Sea - the plane crashed on the way from Adler airport to Syria.
For five months, experts carefully studied the causes of the crash. They talked about the possible overload of the plane and technical problems that arose on board. The final conclusion was this: the cause of the death of the Tu-154 was a violation of the spatial orientation of the ship’s commander, Roman Volkov.
Two weeks before her last flight, Doctor Lisa gave a speech at the state award ceremony in the Kremlin: “Tomorrow I am flying to Donetsk, and from there to Syria, just like other volunteers. And we are not sure that we will return alive. Because war is hell on earth. And I know what I'm talking about."
Lech Kaczynski, 2010
This year, Poland will mark the ninth anniversary of the death of President Lech Kaczynski, the country's first lady, as well as a dozen representatives of the Polish military and political elite - all of whom died in a plane crash near Smolensk.
On April 10, 2010, mourning events were to take place to mark the 70th anniversary of the “Katyn massacre.” A group of high-ranking officials headed by the country's President Lech Kaczynski flew from Poland to participate in the events. The Tu-154M plane, which belonged to the Polish Air Force, failed to reach its destination several minutes later, crashed to the ground and caught fire. All 88 passengers and 8 crew members were killed.
There were very different versions of the tragedy, including a terrorist attack on board the plane, however, the international commission came to a different conclusion. Pilot error led to the disaster. That day there was thick fog over Smolensk, and the plane could (and should) have been landed at an alternate airfield, but for some reason the commander decided not to do this.
Aliya, 2001
In 2001, the life of 22-year-old singer Aliya was cut short as a result of a plane crash. She was called the "princess of R&B" and the one who, had she lived a little longer, could have eclipsed Beyoncé.
On August 25, the plane on which the singer and a group of musicians, dancers and stylists taking part in the filming of the video for the song Rock the Boat flew on a small light aircraft from Abaco Island (in the Bahamas) to Florida. The aircraft fell almost immediately - 60 meters from the runway. Aliya died on the spot from her burns and head injury - according to the arriving doctors, she had no chance to survive.
The results of the investigation into the tragedy shocked the public. According to experts, the pilot Louis Morales III, who was at the helm, did not have a license, but had traces of alcohol and drugs in his blood. The disaster was also caused by the fact that the plane was overloaded with luggage, and the number of people exceeded the permissible norms.
Aliya's relatives told reporters that the tragedy could have been avoided if she had waited until the next morning - another plane was booked at that time, but the singer wanted to return home as soon as possible.
John Kennedy Jr., 1999
On July 16, 1999, a small Piper PA-32R-301 Saratoga II plane took off from the American state of Kentucky to Massachusetts - to the island of Martha's Vineyard. There were only three passengers on board the private jet, all with the last name Kennedy. The eldest son of the US President John, his wife Carolyn and her sister Lauren were flying to the wedding of their relative Rory Kennedy. 40-year-old John, who personally flew the plane, informed dispatchers about the departure at 20:38, and at 21:41 the aircraft disappeared from radar.
As experts would later report, the plane fell into the Atlantic Ocean due to poor visibility and pilot error. And if no one tried to dispute the first (many people talked about the fog that evening), the second caused surprise - according to available data, John was an experienced pilot and, moreover, often flew that route. It is also known that on the day of the disaster, Kennedy’s right leg was in a cast, which is why Carolyn even tried to dissuade her husband from flying, but he insisted...
It should be noted that this was not the first plane crash that claimed the lives of representatives of the Kennedy family. In 1948, John's sister Kathleen "Kick" Cavendish died along with her married lover, Earl Peter Fitzwilliam.
The young people were heading to Cannes for the weekend. North of Mount Ardèche, the plane was caught in a storm, which led to the crash of the liner and the death of all passengers. Kick was found in her chair, her belt fastened, her shoes kicked off. She was only 28 years old.
Yuri Gagarin, 1968
Death in the sky also overtook one of the most famous pilots in the world - Yuri Gagarin. In April 1961, she became the first person in space, and seven years later she tragically died during a test flight.
How something like this could happen to a professional is still unknown today, 58 years later. “An unfortunate coincidence of circumstances,” read the official conclusion of the experts. Documents about the disaster remained classified for several decades, which only fueled rumors about the secret that was being hidden from us.
Another famous cosmonaut Alexei Leonov decided to reveal the truth. According to him, the fall of Gagarin’s plane was provoked by an SU-15 flying just 10-15 meters away at supersonic speed, with a Soviet pilot at the controls. His name is still unknown to the public. Simply put, Gagarin was “blown away” from his trajectory, and, having lost control, he fell in a forest in the Vladimir region.
George, Prince of Kent, 1942
Elizabeth II's uncle left his mark on history, but not as a wise ruler or a true patriot - George of Kent was only interested in social events and his own personal life. And she, despite her official status married man, was quite intense for him. The secret services had to make a lot of efforts to hide from the public all the adventures of the British prince, known for his numerous bisexual relationships.
1. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (44 years old). French pilot and writer (“The Little Prince”). On July 31, 1944, he left Borgo airfield in Corsica on a reconnaissance flight and did not return. In the 2000s, the remains of an aircraft were discovered and raised in the Mediterranean Sea, which, according to military archives, was flown by Saint-Exupury. There are several versions: death in battle, technical malfunction, suicide. In March 2008, 88-year-old Luftwaffe veteran Horst Rippert claimed that he was the one who shot down Saint-Exupéry.
2. Roald Amundsen (55 years old). The greatest polar explorer, the first to reach the South Pole. On June 18, 1928, Amundsen flew in a seaplane to help his colleague Umberto Nobile, who had crashed at the North Pole. Soon the connection was lost, and on the night of August 31 to September 1, an airplane float was found in the Barents Sea.
3. Charles Rolls (32 years old). A British motorist, aviator and entrepreneur, he founded the Rolls-Royce company with Henry Royce. On July 12, 1910, his biplane broke up in the air at an altitude of 6 meters. The first Briton is a victim of a plane crash.
4. Glenn Miller (40 years old). Famous jazz musician, star of the film "Sun Valley Serenade". On December 15, 1944, he flew from England to France on a single-engine Norseman C-64 aircraft. His trail was lost over the English Channel, and neither the plane nor Miller's body were found. Various assumptions have been made about the circumstances of the musician's death. In 1999, former RAF pilot Fred Shaw told reporters that Miller was caught in an area where a British bomber squadron was dropping bombs before returning to base. This version is considered the most plausible.
5. Dag Hammarskjöld (56 years old). Second UN Secretary General, poet and journalist. On September 18, 1961, he died in a plane crash while on a peacekeeping mission to the Congo. Among the unofficial versions there is an assumption that the plane was shot down by Katanja separatist aircraft.
6. Enrico Mattei (56 years old). Head of the Italian state oil and gas concern ENI. On October 27, 1962, he flew from Sicily to Milan on a private plane. On the way, the car caught fire and crashed to the ground. Mattei had many enemies - from the mafia to the international oil concern "seven sisters". Official version No one believed about the engine problems; the Italians suspected the CIA. In the mid-90s, after the exhumation of the remains, it was proven that the plane fell as a result of an explosion, but the perpetrators of the terrorist attack were not identified.
7. Rocky Marciano (45 years old). Famous American professional boxer. He left the ring undefeated. On August 31, 1969, his personal plane crashed into a field near Newton, Iowa.
8. Vladislav Sikorsky (62 years old). Head of the Polish government in exile in 1939-1943. In April 1943, he made sharp accusations against the USSR after the circumstances of the Katyn massacre became known. He demanded that Churchill break off relations with the USSR. On July 4, 1943, Sikorsky and his daughter Sophia died in a plane crash near Gibraltar. The death gave rise to many rumors, but the investigation did not reveal any evidence of involvement of the Soviet special services in his death.
9. Samantha Smith (13 years old). An American schoolgirl who became world famous after writing to Yuri Andropov with the question “Are you going to vote for the start of the war or not?” She visited the USSR, and before leaving for her homeland she said in Russian in front of television cameras: “We will live!” On August 25, 1985, she died in a plane crash in the United States: the plane missed the runway during landing.
10. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (64 years old). President of Pakistan 1978-1988 Came to power after Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was deposed and executed as a result of a military coup. On August 17, 1988, the President's Hercules C-130 plane crashed to the ground, killing 37 people on board. Pakistani experts suggested that there was a container of poisonous gas on board, which struck the pilots and caused the plane to lose control. The Americans, studying the wreckage, discovered traces of explosives, often used in sabotage.
11. Graham Hill (46 years old). Two-time world champion in the Formula 1 class, the only racing driver to win three of the most prestigious races - the Indy 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Monaco Grand Prix. Founder of the Embassy Hill team, which died in a plane crash on November 29, 1975. Hill himself was at the controls of the plane.
12. John Kennedy Jr. (38 years old) (pictured). Journalist and lawyer. Born 16 days after his father was elected President of the United States. On July 16, 1999, he piloted a Piper Saratoga light aircraft with his wife and her sister on board. The plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean due to pilot error in poor visibility conditions. In addition, President Kennedy's brother Joseph (1944) and sister Kathleen (1948) died in plane crashes.
13. Samora Machel (53 years old). First President of Mozambique. He bowed to Stalin and Mao Zedong, fought for the elimination of the apartheid regime in South Africa. On October 19, 1986, Machel's TU-134 plane, controlled by a Soviet crew, crashed into a mountain. One of the versions is sabotage by the South African intelligence services.
14. Buddy Holly (22 years old). American singer and songwriter, one of the pioneers of rock and roll. According to Rolling Stone magazine, he ranks 13th on the list of “Greatest Artists of All Time.” On February 3, 1959, while on tour, he abandoned the boring bus and decided to get to his next destination by plane. The plane got caught in a storm and crashed.
15. George, Prince of Kent (39 years old). Member of the English royal family, known for his numerous bisexual relationships. On August 15, 1942, he died in a plane crash over Scotland. A version was put forward about the involvement of British intelligence services.
16. Steve Fawcett (63 years old). American billionaire, known for his numerous travels and records in aeronautics and sailing, in particular, he was the first in the world to fly Globe on a plane alone and non-stop, alone flew around the Earth to hot air balloon. On September 3, 2007, he crashed in a single-engine plane. The most likely causes are strong winds and downdrafts.
17. Lin Biao (63 years old). Chinese statesman, deputy and most likely successor of Mao Zedong. On September 13, 1971, he died in a mysterious plane crash over Mongolia. According to one version, he was killed by Chinese special services because he was trying to escape to the USSR. However, judging by the wreckage, the plane was heading from Mongolia back to China. Nevertheless, after his death he was declared a traitor, deleted from the CCP lists, and the “Criticize Lin Biao and Confucius” campaign was announced in the country.
18. Dhirendra Brahmachari (69 years old). Indian yogi, mentor of Jawaharlal Nehru, yoga advisor to Indira Gandhi, founder of the Central Institute of Yoga in Delhi. In 1994, his own plane crashed over an ashram in Man Talai, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
19. Valentino Mazzolla (30 years old). Italian footballer, captain of the national team and the Torino club. On May 4, 1949, a three-engine Fiat flying from Lisbon, on approach to the airport, entered an area of increased fog and crashed with its left wing into the Basilica of Superga. All Torino players died.
20. Omar Torrijos (52 years old). In October 1968, he led a coup d'etat in Panama, "the supreme leader of the Panamanian revolution." In 1978 he retired from active political activity. On August 1, 1981, he died in a plane crash, which, according to some sources, was arranged by his successor Manuel Noriega.
21. Rene Barrientos Ortuño (49 years old). The President of Bolivia came to power by overthrowing the government of social reforms. With the help of the army, he suppressed all resistance to the regime, including the rebellion of Che Guevara. On April 27, 1969, he died in a helicopter crash under mysterious circumstances.
22. Juvenal Habyarimana (57 years old). President of Rwanda 1973-1994 On April 6, 1994, the President of Rwanda and the President of Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira, were returning by plane from Tanzania, where they were negotiating a solution to the conflicts between the Hutus and Tutsis in these countries. The plane crashed on approach to Kigali airport. According to one version, he was shot down by Tutsi rebels.
23. Jaime Roldos Aguilera (40 years old). The President of Ecuador pursued a policy of protecting human rights in an era when almost all Latin American countries were ruled by military dictators. On May 24, 1981, the plane carrying the president crashed in the mountains. There is a theory that the CIA was involved in his death, since plans to reorganize the oil and gas industry affected US interests.
24. Abdul Salam Aref (44 years old). President of Iraq from 1963-1966. On April 13, 1966, a helicopter carrying the president crashed en route from Basra to Baghdad.
25. Boris Trajkovsky (47 years old). President of Macedonia. On February 26, 2004, he crashed in a mountainous area in southern Bosnia.
