Date: | Tuesday 19 September 1944 |
Time: | |
Type: | Douglas Dakota III (DC-3) |
Owner/operator: | Royal Air Force - RAF |
Registration: | KG401 |
MSN: | 12436 |
Year of manufacture: | 1944 |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 4 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed, written off |
Category: | UI |
Location: | near Kessel -
Belgium
|
Phase: | Unknown |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | Down Ampney RAF Station |
Destination airport: | Down Ampney RAF Station |
Narrative:The Douglas Dakota III aircraft had just dropped its supplies from 700 feet during Operation Market Garden when it was met with intense anti-aircraft fire near Arnhem, the Netherlands. The tail unit, rudder, port aileron and engine, the starboard auxiliary fuel tank and all the gyro instruments were either damaged or put out of action, and one of the Army dispatchers was mortally wounded. The crew flew the crippled aircraft back to the British lines, through three more areas of enemy flak, where they sustained further serious damage, including a five foot hole in the starboard wing which caught fire, and complete electrical and communications failure. Once over the British lines, the pilots then made a successful belly-landing in the field.
Sources:
The Douglas DC-1/DC-2/DC-3 - the first seventy years / J.M. Gradidge
Imperial War Musuem collection The Pegasus Archive Location
Images:
photo (c) Royal Air Force; near Kessel; September 1944; (publicdomain)
Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |