Date:	Monday 25 December 1944
Time:	04:27
Type:	Douglas C-47A-5-DL (DC-3)
Owner/operator:	United States Army Air Force - USAAF
Registration:	42-23360
MSN:	9222
Year of manufacture:	1943
Engine model:	Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 12 / Occupants: 27
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	5 km SW of Harrisburg, PA (HAR) -   United States of America
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Dayton-Wright Patterson AAF, OH (FFO/KFFO)
Destination airport:	Minneapolis-Wold-Chamberlain Field, MN (MSP/KMSP)

Narrative:
A Douglas C-47 transport plane was destroyed when it flew into the side of a hill. All four crew members and eight of the 23 passengers were killed in the accident.
The flight had left Patterson Field, OH at 22:21 on a flight to Minneapolis. Serious headwinds forced the crew to descend to a lower altitude than the 12.000 feet they had been cleared for. Then the airplane began to pick up ice. The crew decided to return to Patterson at 23:18. Weather at Patterson had deteriorated and the pilot was given an alternate of Harrisburg, PA. Weather at Harrisburg also deteriorated but the flight was cleared for a runway 12 straight in approach. After nine unsuccessful attempts to land the airplane was low on fuel. Ceiling continued to lower and the crew manoeuvred around the airport until the airplane struck 900-foot Reeser's Summit at an elevation of 700 feet.

findagrave.com
Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945, Vol. 3: August 1944-December 1945 / Anthony J. Mireles

photo (c) USAAF; 5 km SW of Harrisburg-Municipal Airport, PA (HAR); 25 December 1944

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