Over the course of history, there have been several tragic instances of football teams being involved in fatal plane crashes. One such instance took place in northwest Italy on this day 73 years ago. May 4th, 1949 was the date of the Superga Air Disaster, an accident that wiped out one of the most talented teams of its era.

A dominant force in Italian football

Italian football team Torino FC has played in the country's top division for most of its history. Today, the club is somewhat overshadowed by the emphatic success of its city rivals Juventus. However, Torino FC used to be one of the finest clubs in Europe, whose squad was widely revered in terms of both its players and coaches.

Indeed, the club dominated Italian football in the 1940s, with its squad at the time being known as Grande Torino. This exceptional group of players won five league titles in a row, as well as the Coppa Italia domestic cup competition. They made up the bulk of the Italian national team at the time. For example, in a 3-2 win against Hungary in 1947, 10 of Italy's 11 starters were Torino FC players!

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Grande Torino won five consecutive Italian league titles in the 1940s. Photo: Getty Images

Heading towards the end of the 1948-49 season, Grande Torino was closing in on a record-equaling fifth-consecutive league title. With four games to go, the side traveled to Lisbon to face the decorated Portuguese team SL Benfica in a friendly match, which its hosts won 4-3. Tragically, this fixture would be the last time that the players in the Grande Torino squad would ever play together.

Tragedy at the basilica

The day after the game (May 4th, 1949), Grande Torino departed Lisbon on an Avio Linee Italiana Fiat G.212. The Aviation Safety Network notes that the plane was built in 1947. As well as 18 players, the aircraft carried coaching staff, journalists, and club executives (three each). Four crew members joined the 27 passengers.

Having departed Lisbon at 09:40 local time, the plane touched down in Barcelona at 13:00. Funnily enough, while the aircraft refueled, Grande Torino had a chance encounter with the AC Milan team during their wait in Barcelona. The Rossoneri were there on their way to a game in Madrid. The G.212 took off again at 14:50.

Fiat G.212
The Italian Air Force was also a major operator of the Fiat G.212. Photo: Ciro via Wikimedia Commons

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The journey to Turin was set to take a little over two hours, with the team's arrival expected at 17:00 local time. Weather conditions at Turin-Aeritalia Airport were poor that afternoon. As such, local air traffic controllers warned the pilots of low clouds, poor visibility levels (which dropped as low as 40 meters), rain, and strong winds just before their arrival, at 16:55. Four minutes of radio silence followed.

The pilots eventually responded at 16:59, confirming their position before lining up with the runway. However, at 17:03, it crashed into the Basilica of Superga, which sat 669 meters (2,195 feet) above sea level. It is thought that strong winds caused the plane to deviate from its course. Meanwhile, more recent investigations of the accident have also explored the possibility of an altimeter failure.

After the crash

In any case, the poor visibility would have left the pilots insufficient time to react once the reality of the plane's collision with the basilica became evident. Tragically, all 31 occupants lost their lives in the disaster. The team's manager was Ernő Egri Erbstein, who, as a Hungarian Jew, had escaped a Nazi labor camp in 1944.

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Torino FC fans with a banner depicting their heroes from the Grande Torino era. Photo: Getty Images

Monks from the basilica quickly arrived on the scene of the crash. The Names Heard Long Ago: How the Golden Age of Hungarian Soccer Shaped the Modern Game by acclaimed British football historian Jonathan Wilson explains that:

"One monk opened a suitcase and found it full of [Torino FC] shirts. Only then did they realize who had been on the plane."

With Italian football in a state of shock, teams requested that Torino be awarded the championship. This occurred two days later, bagging the club its fifth straight league title under tragic circumstances. Wilson adds that "Torino hadn't lost a home game in six years." Remains of the aircraft can now be found in a Turin museum, and there is now a permanent memorial situated at the crash site.

Manchester United Munich Air Disaster Memorial Service
Manchester United experienced a similar tragedy less than a decade later. Photo: Getty Images

Several similar disasters

In the years since the Superga Air Disaster, several other football teams have been lost in high-profile plane crashes. A notable example is the Munich Air Disaster (1958), whereby several Manchester United players were among the victims of a snowy crash that proved an unlikely catalyst for postwar Anglo-German relations.

More recently, the crash of a de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo in April 1993 wiped out a golden generation of Zambian footballers on their way to a World Cup qualifying match in Senegal. Finally, November 2016 saw the footballing world plunged into mourning following the crash of LaMia flight 2933. This disaster killed the majority of Associação Chapecoense de Futebol's squad at the time.

In memory of the victims of the Superga Air Disaster.

Source: The Aviation Safety Network