Date:	Friday 20 April 1945
Time:	06:40
Type:	Douglas C-47-DL (DC-3)
Owner/operator:	United States Army Air Force - USAAF
Registration:	41-18451
MSN:	4513
Year of manufacture:	1942
Engine model:	Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 25 / Occupants: 25
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	6,5 km SE of Sweetwater, TX -   United States of America
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Midland AAF, TX (MAF/KMAF)
Destination airport:	Nashville Metropolitan Airport, TN (BNA/KBNA)

Narrative:
A Douglas C-47 transport aircraft was destroyed when it crashed during a personnel flight from Midland AAF, TX to Nashville, TN. All three crew members and 22 passengers were killed in the accident. Some fifty minutes into the flight the airplane encountered a line of powerful thunderstorms. The no. 2 propeller was apparently feathered and the pilot probably attempted to divert to Avenger Field, TX. The airplane was manoeuvring in IMC when elevators and horizontal stabilizers failed due to severe stresses on the airframe. The crew lost control and the C-47 spun to the ground.

Military aviation disasters : significant losses since 1908 / D. Gero, 1999
USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to Present / Joe Baugher
Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945, Vol. 3: August 1944-December 1945 / Anthony J. Mireles

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