I am astounded that a catastrophe of this magnitude hasn't come to my attention before, with all the searches I've made in this particular field.The worst* death toll was in September 1982, when an American Chinook helicopter exploded during an air show in Mannheim, killing 46 people, including Britons, Frenchmen and West Germans.
Does anyone have any details to add, please do.
* = this quote appeared in an article about the 1988 Ramstein tragedy.