Finnish Fairchild G24 crash

This one is (or was) a Fairchild G24 “De Luxe” (FD-1). On 19th April 1941 FD-1 was scheduled to fly from Malmi airport at Helsinki to Artukainen airport at Turku. However someone forgot to put few bolts into the wings when they replaced the skies a bit earlier.

Outcome was death of two men. The pilot (Major Toivo Juho Elias Kuusinen) and passenger (Major Eino Upari). The wing turned about 90 degrees to it’s back during the first minutes of the flight.

Photos from Finnish Military Archives.

1st photo: Destroyed FD-1.
2st photo, upper text: Attachment bolt’s hole.
2st photo, lower text: Entire lower part of the left fore wing strut.
3st photo: Attachment bolt of the lower part of the fore wing strut.

Martti