Glacier crash drama captivated the world

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The Douglas DC-3 Dakota plane, travelling at 280 kilometres per hour, crashed onto the glacier at an altitude of 3,350 metres. Schweizer Luftwaffe

The crew and passengers survived the crash landing and took shelter in the plane. An emergency call was picked up in Paris and Marseille but the plane's position was not known for days. It was thought to be in the French Alps. RDB

80 American plans searched in France. The military air field in nearby Meiringen received the final distress call after three days. The US Army sent 150 men to assist. They hoped to tackle the glacier with Snow Cat crawler vehicles. RDB

Local people knew the crash site was only reachable on foot. Keystone

American, French and British planes dropped material indiscriminately at the crash site, endangering the stranded passengers below and prompting a crew member to write the word FINI in the snow. Keystone

Despite fog and snowfall the rescue team set off at 4.15 a.m. The American mountain infantry were reduced to inaction. Keystone

It was a massive effort. The climb lasted 13 hours, rising 2,500 metres over nine kilometres. Bundesarchiv

The 83 rescuers made snow caves under the plane wreck and camped out in -15 Celsius while the American passengers, including four wounded, spent their fifth night in the plane. Photopress

On the initiative of two Swiss Army pilots two all-pupose Fieseler Storch planes were fitted with plane skis. High altitude snow landings had been tested during the Second World War but the air force had never before resorted to this action. Keystone

The pilots landed safely on the glacier. The Fieseler Storch operation was the inaugural flight of Swiss Air Rescue Service. Schweizer Luftwaffe

It took the two pilots eight rescue flights to transport the 12 Americans to the valley. Keystone

The Americans gave out chewing gum, chocolate and cigarettes to the rescuers. Keystone

A fully equipped American Lazarett plane was waiting for the injured in the Bernese Oberland resort of Interlaken. Keystone

Some 150 members of the press from all over the world reported on the spectacular rescue and fêted the two pilots as heroes. Keystone

In May 1947 the plane was stripped of its engines and instruments by personnel from the Meirigen air field. The wreck disappeared into the ice of the glacier where it remains to this day. Schweizer Luftwaffe

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On November 19, 1946 an American military plane with 12 passengers on board strayed off course on a flight from Vienna to Marseille and crash-landed on the Gauli glacier in the Swiss Alps. Nearby Meiringen in the Bernese Oberland was the scene of the largest alpine rescue operation ever seen at that time.

All 12 passengers, including high-ranking officers and three women, survived the crash and were saved in a spectacular operation. Swiss mountain guides, alpine troops, and two pilots all played their parts, and the rescue improved the strained political relations between Switzerland and the United States in the post-war era. The event, followed worldwide, was also the beginning of the Swiss Air Rescue Service. (Pictures: Keystone/Photopress, RDB, Swiss Air Force, Federal Archive)