1943 — Sep 22, USAAF C-53 transport hits trees on takeoff/crashes near Calcutta, India-20
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 4-26-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
— 20 ASN. Accident description. USAAF Douglas C-53-DO, 1943, Sep 22, Calcutta, India.
— 20 Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, 25.
— 20 San Antonio Light, TX. “20 Killed in Crash of U.S. Transport.” 9-28-1943, p. 1.
Narrative Information
Gero: “Date: 22 September 1943 (c06:00)….
“Aircraft type: Douglas C-53 (42-6471)
“The twin-engine transport crashed and burned slightly less than a mile (1.5km) north of Dum Dum Airport, from where it had taken off moments earlier. All 20 American servicemen aboard (15 passengers and a crew of five) were killed. The aircraft had struck trees following its departure from the north/south runway, the accident occurring around dawn and in meteorological conditions consisting of a high overcast with scattered clouds at 2,000ft (600m), a visibility of 7 miles (11km) and a light wind. Whatever factors that caused or were factored in it were not divulged in the official investigative report on the crash.” (Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, 25-26.)
Newspaper
Sep 28, Associated Press: “U.S. Tenth Air Force Headquarters in India, Sept. 28. – (AP) – Twenty U. S. army officers and men were killed last Tuesday [Sep 22] in the crash of an army transport plane near Calcutta, it was disclosed today. Lieut. Marian Lowell of Alderdale, Wash., pilot of an American transport which landed at Calcutta a short time after the crash, said he never saw a more complete washout. The wreckage was still burning when I sat down.”
“One of the transport’s two engines apparently failed on the takeoff. No one knows definitely what happened inasmuch as the crash occurred a short time before daybreak. All persons in the plane except Lieut. Dale Johnson (hometown unavailable) were killed instantly. Johnson died two days later.” (San Antonio Light, TX. “20 Killed in Crash of U.S. Transport.” 9-28-1943, 1)
Sources
Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database. Accident Description. United States Army Air Force, Douglas C-53-DO, 1943, Sep 22, near Calcutta-Dum Dum Airport, India. Accessed 3-15-2012 at: http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19430922-1
Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. UK and Newbury Park, CA: Patrick Stephens Limited, an imprint of Hayes Publishing, 1999.
San Antonio Light, TX. “20 Killed in Crash of U.S. Transport.” 9-28-1943, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=68942603