The 1952 Bermuda air crash occurred on 6 December 1952, when a Douglas DC-4

Douglas DC-4

The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role...

, registered CU-T397 and operated by Cubana de Aviación

Cubana de Aviación

Cubana de Aviación S.A., commonly known as Cubana, is Cuba's largest airline and flag carrier. The airline was founded on 8 October 1929, and has its corporate headquarters in Havana. Its main base is at José Martí International Airport...

, flying from from Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 to Havana

Havana

Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 following a refueling stop at Kindley Air Force Base

Kindley Air Force Base

Kindley Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base in Bermuda from 1948–1970, having been operated from 1943 to 1948 by the United States Army Air Force as Kindley Field.-World War II:...

 in Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

. There were 33 passengers and 8 crew on board the aircraft. The flight arrived at Kindley Air Force Base

Kindley Air Force Base

Kindley Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base in Bermuda from 1948–1970, having been operated from 1943 to 1948 by the United States Army Air Force as Kindley Field.-World War II:...

 at 03:30. After an hour's stopover spent refueling the aircraft, the DC-4 departed; at 04:45, during the initial climb, the aircraft stall

Stall

In fluid dynamics, a stall is a reduction in the lift coefficient generated by a foil as angle of attack increases. This occurs when the critical angle of attack of the foil is exceeded...

ed, lost height and crashed tail first into the sea. The accident killed 37 passengers and crew; three passengers and a crewmember survived the crash, and were rescued shortly after the crash. The cause of the accident was not determined; it remains the worst aviation accident in Bermudan history.