Date:	Friday 7 January 1949
Time:	16:45
Type:	Douglas C-54G-5-DO (DC-4)
Owner/operator:	United States Air Force - USAF
Registration:	45-543
MSN:	35996
Year of manufacture:	1945
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	near Garstang -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Frankfurt-Rhein-Main AFB (FRF/EDAF)
Destination airport:	Burtonwood Airport (BUT/EGOB)

Narrative:
Douglas Skymaster 45-543 was participating in the Berlin Airlift. To undergo its 200 hour maintenance inspection, the airplane was to be ferried to Burtonwood (BUT). The aircraft took taken off at 13:12 from Rhein-Main AFB (FRF). The flight was uneventful and the pilot was cleared to make a VFR approach to Burtonwood. The airplane descended through the cloud and flew into the face of Stake House Fell. Investigation revealed that a strong signal from commercial radio station North of the Burtonwood base was interfering with the Burtonwood Range signal, causing the radio compass on board aircraft to continue to indicate that the base was to their North even after they had passed to the North of the Range Station.

C-54 Skymaster 45-543 - Stake House Fell - 7th January 1949
The Unheralded: Men and Women of the Berlin Blockade and Airlift/Edwin Gere

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