Hirlemann’s Plane Crashes in the Congolese Forest

Hirlemann’s Plane Crashes in the Congolese Forest is a wartime aircraft disaster that kills three members of the narrator’s circle and abruptly disrupts his planned journey to Brazzaville. The narrator was spared because malaria had incapacitated him for a week, making the crash both a personal loss and a sudden break in his attempt to travel onward.

Context and Intended Journey

Every fortnight, Hirlemann piloted a Blenheim on military liaison flights to Brazzaville. The narrator had arranged to accompany him on the next trip. The journey mattered beyond its military purpose: the narrator’s plans to reach Brazzaville followed Louison’s departure, and the flight offered a way to travel there after their separation.

The Crash and Its Survivors

Hirlemann’s plane lost an airscrew over the Congo and came down in a flooded forest. Hirlemann, Bequart, and Crouzet died at the scene. Courtiaud, the mechanic, survived with a broken leg; for three nights and four days he fought off red ants and came close to losing his sanity. The disaster therefore left only one survivor among those aboard, facing an ordeal that continued long after the impact.

Aftermath and Narrative Significance

The narrator was not on the flight: an attack of malaria had left him unconscious for an entire week. He presents that absence as an accidental reprieve from a journey that might have placed him aboard the aircraft, while the deaths of friends give the missed trip a cost beyond its interruption. In the surrounding account, the crash also delays his attempt to reach Brazzaville, turning a planned flight into a point of rupture between longing and the wartime contingencies that keep him from Louison.