Date:	Sunday 11 July 1943
Time:
Type:	Douglas Dakota I (DC-3)
Owner/operator:	Royal Air Force - RAF
Registration:	FD815
MSN:	9132
Year of manufacture:	1943
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	5 km NW of Tunis-El Aouina Airport (TUN) -   Tunisia
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Tunis-El Aouina Airport (TUN/DTTA)
Destination airport:	Tunis-El Aouina Airport (TUN/DTTA)

Narrative:
Four Douglas Dakota aircraft attached to the RAF No.267 Squadron were tasked to drop fifty dummy parachutists and eighty pintails (a device that lands upright and automatically fires a flare).
Dakota FD815 made a normal takeoff at 21:08 British hours but crashed on fire about three minutes later.

The Court finds that a fire occurred in the aircraft, probably at the rear end of the cabin, shortly after take-off. There is no direct evidence as to the origin of the fire. The Court, however, considers that the fire did not originate in a dummy parachutist, but could have originated by the accidental firing of a pintail.
The Court does not have any evidence as to the cause of the crash, but considers it possible that the fire inside the fuselage destroyed the elevator controls, or produced so much smoke as to blind the pilot.
The highly inflammable nature of the cargo would have made remedial action almost impossible once a dummy parachutist had caught fire, which would happen at once if ignited by a pintail. The accidental firing of a dummy on the other hand gives three minutes warning during which the dummy could have been jettisoned.
The Court considers that Major Baxter was properly instructed and capable of performing his duties. He probably commenced arming the pintails as soon as airborne. This coincides with the outbreak of the fire.

rafcommands.com
The Douglas DC-1/DC-2/DC-3 - the first seventy years / J.M. Gradidge

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