1980s 1990s Polar 3 was a Dornier 228 owned and operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute that was shot down south of Dakhla, Western Sahara by guerrillas of the Polisario Front on 24 February 1985.

On 24 February, at approximately 14:45 local time, the two planes took off from Dakar, Senegal bound for Lanzarote Airport, Canary Islands.

All three of the Polar 3's crew members – pilot Herbert Hampel, co-pilot Richard Möbius (both 47) and mechanic Josef Schmid (28) – were killed.

Polisario fighters had mistaken this particular 228 as a Moroccan spy plane and were unaware Morocco had opened the airspace over the combat region.

[4] The question was also raised as to why the air traffic control in Dakar directed the plane over the disputed and potentially dangerous Western Sahara territory rather than the safe airspace to the west over the Atlantic Ocean.