Fire in the cargo hold
50 years ago, on 14 August 1972, Germany witnessed its deadliest plane crash to date. All 156 people on board were killed when an Il-62 of the GDR airline Interflug crashed near Königs Wusterhausen to the south of Berlin.
The cause was a fire in the rear underfloor cargo hold of the Soviet-built aircraft with a capacity of 10 to 23 t. Thirteen minutes after it took off from Berlin-SXF bound for Burgas, Bulgaria, the crew reported problems and turned back.
As the subsequent investigation revealed, a long-standing leak in a hot-air tube (overpressure 300°C) had damaged the insulation of electrical cables. A short circuit caused an initially unnoticed fire and the tail lost its structural stability. After separating from the fuselage with the tail unit, the aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent and crashed. (ah)