Ramstein Air Show Disaster

It was a beautiful summer day at Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany. The date was Aug 28, 1988 and no one present that day will ever forget the horrible tragedy that struck. The US Air Force and its NATO allies hosted the military air show. An estimated 300 thousand attended the huge event. The Air Show was a German-American public festival with many attractions. Most had no idea that the Italian squad "Frecce Tricolore" would be performing that day. (Bulau, 2008) The Italian aerobatics team lined up on the runway and took off one by one. There show was a dazzling display of pilot skill and spectacles of colored smoke. They were stealing the attention of the crowd when all of the sudden, BOOM!

Ramstein Air Base is a United States Air Force Base located in Rhineland-Palatinate Germany. It serves as one of the largest United States Bases, roughly the size of Rhode Island, and headquarters for US Air Forces Europe (USAFE). On 28 August 1988, Ramstein held its annual open house known as the Flugtag ("flight day"). The grand finale of the show would be the Italian Air Force aerobatic team - the Frecce Tricolori (Tricolor Arrows). The weather that day was clear skies and no wind, excellent weather for an air show. Only a few minutes after the Frecce Tricolori started there display, 3 aircraft crashed into each other while trying a crossover maneuver. Two of the aircraft crashed into the nearby woods while the other plummeted into the crowd causing over five hundred casualties.

Ramstein is located 10 miles west of Kaiserslautern in the German State of Rheinland-Pfalz. Since 1955 the United States Air Force has held an annual Armed Forces Open House at Ramstein. Admission to the show is free to military and civilians. Over the years the show has built a reputation for being the largest and best air show in all of Europe with an estimated 300,000 attendees at the 1988 show.

The Frecce Tricolori are part of the 313 Gruppo stationed at Rivolto Air Base in northern Italy. They pilot the Aermacchi MB 339A two seat trainer aircraft. The pilots are hand picked from various fighter squadrons in the Italian Air force. Each pilots is required to have 1,000 flight hours before chosen. Much like the USAF, the Italian Air force chooses their pilots based off of skill and experience. (Aerobatic Teams) The Italian Aero team had suffered three other fatal accidents in the previous decade. One during the RAF Mildenhall air show in 1979 in which the pilot managed to glide his aircraft to safely away from the crowd before crashing. (Martin, 1990)

The Frecce Tricolori had just started their aerobatic display. After flying over the crowed in a large formation the group climbed and split into thee smaller formations. (Aerobatic Teams) The V shaped formation of five aircraft and a diamond formation of four aircraft entered loops, each to form a half heart in the sky. A single aircraft flew a loop away from the two formations and then turned back in attempt to pass above the two intercepting formations. The aerobatic maneuver was dubbed the "pierced heart maneuver". (Aerobatic Teams) The single aircraft was recovering from the loop when it stuck the tail section of the lead aircraft in the formation. The lead aircraft rolled out of control and collided with the aircraft on its left causing both aircraft to plummet onto the airfield into a helicopter that was on medevac standby. Both helicopter pilots were fatally wounded. Due to the initial impact, the single aircraft suffered extensive damage in the nose in where the pilot was killed instantly. The fuel tank suffered a catastrophic fuel leak that subsequently engulfed the aircraft in flames. The two right wingmen in the other formation flew through the fireball and took extensive damage to their aircraft but were able to land safely at a nearby airfield. None of the other aircraft were damaged and all landed safely. (Kesserlring, 1989) After the single aircraft collided with the formation, it plummeted to the ground in front of the crowed and then rolled into a mass of spectators. The plane rolled into the most densely packed part of the crowed taking barbwire fencing with it. Video footage shows the crowd frozen in shock until the fireball came to a halt, in which then almost all 300,000 attendees rushed toward the scene to help. Dozens were caught in the inferno while others close by were severely burned. The ones that could walk headed to the clinic almost naked from their clothes being seared off. (Kesserlring, 1989)

Based off previous air shows, medical teams planned to treat at most 150 patients during the Flugtag. The injuries they had prepared for were no more sever than sprains, heat exhaustion, cuts and other minor injuries. However plans were in place to treat mass casualty emergencies. The base Emergency Response Plan (ERP) had been revised February that year. The plan was exercised twice in the months leading up to the disaster. The ERP was available, in checklist form, to a dedicated emergency response team. The team was located in a mobile command post at show. (Martin, 1990) The ERP also incorporated support from the German Red Cross (DRK) and the Landstuhl Army Regional Medical Center (LARMC). (Kesserlring, 1989) LARMC is a US Army medical facility with all the resources of a large general hospital.

With the support of DRK, LARMCs goal was to provide medical support for air show spectators. There were four medical aid stations (MAS) set up throughout the show grounds, A, B, C and D but only station B was near the crowd line. (Kesserlring, 1989) Each MAS was manned by both German and American medical staff. MAS A was the main control center for all the other stations and also the only MAS with radio and landline communications. There was a total 15 doctors and 163 paramedical personnel staffed for the show. All medical personnel were present at the show except for 2 doctors who were at the base clinic tending to routine patients. 15 Ambulances sat on standby with another 2 UH-60 Blackhawk casualty evacuation helicopters. (Martin, 1990) All of the vehicular assets were dispersed throughout the MASs. Ironically one of the UH-60s dedicated to casualty evacuation was destroyed in the initial accident. (Kesserlring, 1989) LARMC was aware of the air show that weekend but had posted no additional personnel. DRK headquarters in Landstuhl had 28 medical personnel standing by. An additional 91 medical personnel were on telephone standby in the area surrounding Ramstein. (Kesserlring, 1989)

At 1546 the crash call was sent but due to the large plums of smoke, the accident was visible to almost all personnel. Fire tucks were placed on standby at the start of the show. The crew of the main fire truck responded to the fire in seconds and had the plane extinguished within 92 seconds from initial impact. The truck pumped almost all of its 3000 gallon tank of