Date:	Sunday 17 September 1944
Time:
Type:	Douglas C-47A-65-DL (DC-3)
Owner/operator:	United States Army Air Force - USAAF
Registration:	42-100517
MSN:	18980
Year of manufacture:	1943
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	60 km NW off Westkapelle, the Netherlands [North Sea] -   Atlantic Ocean
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:
Destination airport:

Narrative:
A C-47A was operating on a paradrop mission over the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden. All twelve paratroopers and four parapacks were dropped near the drop zone. Near Tilburg another airplane, reportedly USAAF Douglas C-47A 42-100965 (msn 19428), crashed into the rear of 42-100517. The right hand prop and gear case were torn off. The roof was also torn off from the pilot's bulkhead to the rear. The airplane continued on one engine, being hit by flak on several occasions as it continued down the Schelde estuary towards the North Sea. Flying at a low altitude over the sea, the pilot got vectors from a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt pilot and continued on a 230-degree heading. After spotting an air-sea rescue service launch the pilot decided to ditch the plane.

The Douglas DC-1/DC-2/DC-3 - the first seventy years / J.M. Gradidge
Valor Without Arms: A History of the 316th Troop Carrier Group, 1942-1945 / Michael N. Ingrisano, Jr

Date/time	Contributor	Updates