ASN Aircraft accident Douglas C-49H (DC-3) NC21788 Lake Worth, FL
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Status:
Date:Friday 5 May 1944
Time:10:26
Type:Silhouette image of generic DC3 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different
Douglas C-49H (DC-3)
Operating for:United States Army Air Force - USAAF
Leased from:Pennsylvania-Central Airlines
Registration: NC21788
MSN: 2187
First flight: 1940
Engines: 2 Wright R-1820-97
Crew:Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Passengers:Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Total:Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Collision casualties:Fatalities: 4
Aircraft damage: Damaged beyond repair
Location:10 km (6.3 mls) SE off Lake Worth, FL (   United States of America)
Phase: En route (ENR)
Nature:Military
Departure airport:Miami-36th Street Airport, FL (MIA/KMIA), United States of America
Destination airport:Savannah International Airport, GA (SAV/KSAV), United States of America
Narrative:
A Consolidated B-24D (41-11889) departed Homestead AAF, FL on an instrument flight to West Palm Beach, FL. To simulate instrument conditions, the pilot was flying under the hood.
At 10:06 a Douglas C-49 took off from Miami, bound for Savannah and began to climb to its assigned cruising altitude of 3000 feet. At 10:20 the pilot of the B-24 radioed Morrison Field that the exercise was completed and that they were leaving the Morrison Radio Range. It proceeded to the south at an altitude of 1500 feet. At 10:26 both aircraft collided nearly head on. The B-24D's port wing separated near the no. 1 engine. The airplane rolled over to the left and crashed into the sea. The C-49 went into a steep spiral and impacted the sea about a mile off shore.
It is presumed that the pilot of the B-24 was still under the hood with both crew members of the C-49 preoccupied with their respective cockpit duties.
Official records list the C-49's serial as 39-2187. This seems improbable

Classification:
Mid air collision
Loss of control

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


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Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does not display the exact flight path.
Distance from Miami-36th Street Airport, FL to Savannah International Airport, GA as the crow flies is 706 km (441 miles).

This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.
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