Date:	Wednesday 29 March 1944
Time:	02:35
Type:	Douglas C-47A-65-DL (DC-3)
Owner/operator:	United States Army Air Force - USAAF
Registration:	42-100493
MSN:	18956
Year of manufacture:	1943
Engine model:	Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	14 km W of Sanford, NC -   United States of America
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Fayetteville-Pope AAF, NC (POB/KPOB)
Destination airport:	Raleigh/Durham AAF, NC (RDU/KRDU)

Narrative:
The C-47A departed Pope Field on a training flight to Raleigh and Greensboro. It climbed to an altitude of 5000 feet and headed for Raleigh in instrument conditions. En route it experienced electrical problems. The auxiliary generator could no longer be used and the pitot tube heating failed. The pitot tube iced up, causing the airspeed indicator to give erroneous readings. The pilot attempted to descend below the overcast in order to return to Pope in visual conditions. The airplane flew into rising terrain just as it broke through the clouds.

Aviation Archaeological Investigation and Research (AAIR)
Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945, Vol. 2: July 1943-July 1944 / Anthony J. Mireles

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