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.
Sources:
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
Revision history:
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