ASN Aircraft accident Douglas C-53-DO (DC-3) 41-20051 Bathurst Island, NT
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Status:
Date:Wednesday 4 February 1942
Type:Silhouette image of generic DC3 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different
Douglas C-53-DO (DC-3)
Operator:United States Army Air Force - USAAF
Registration: 41-20051
MSN: 4821
First flight: 1941
Crew:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants:
Passengers:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants:
Total:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants:
Aircraft damage: Damaged beyond repair
Location:Bathurst Island, NT (   Australia)
Phase: Landing (LDG)
Nature:Military
Departure airport:?
Destination airport:Darwin RAAF Station, NT (DRW/YPDN), Australia
Narrative:
The C-53 transport plane of the 21st Troop Carrier Squadron was returning from Java, Indonesia and found that Darwin, Australia was closed in. It turned back to Bathurst Island, 60 miles north of Darwin, where it landed on an emergency airfield for light aircraft. While landing in a crosswind, the plane damaged its left wing tip and aileron, and before repairs could be carried out, a Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero destroyed the aircraft on the ground on 19 February 1942.
It was then stripped and the remains were pushed off a cliff onto the shore of Apsley Strait.

Sources:
» Australia @ War (ozatwar.com)
» The Douglas DC-1/DC-2/DC-3 - the first seventy years / J.M. Gradidge


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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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