Status: | |
Date: | xx xxx 1954 |
Type: | Douglas R4D-5 (DC-3) |
Operator: | Polyarnaya Aviatsiya |
Registration: | CCCP-H417 |
MSN: | 9357 |
First flight: | 1943 |
Engines: | 2 Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92 |
Crew: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: |
Passengers: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: |
Total: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: |
Aircraft damage: | Damaged beyond repair |
Location: | Polar Station SP-3 ( Arctic Ocean)
|
Phase: | Landing (LDG) |
Nature: | Cargo |
Departure airport: | ? |
Destination airport: | ? |
Narrative:The R4D-5 was ski-equipped DC-3 used by the U.S. Navy for Project Ski Jump. The airplane carried out landings on drifting ice in the Beaufort Sea. The landing gear collapsed upon landing during one of these flights. The aircraft was abandoned on the ice.
It was discovered by the Soviets in May 1954 who repaired the plane and used it briefly as CCCP-H417 before it crashed late 1954. It was damaged beyond repair on landing at drifting polar station SP-3 in bad visibility when the landing gear struck a hummocked ice ridge and the aircraft belly-landed; fuselage used as a sauna and eventually sank.
Sources:
»
US Navy and US Marine Corps Aircraft Serial Numbers and Bureau Numbers--1911 to Present / Joe Baugher»
Soviet Transports
Photos
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.