1943 USAF C-47 Tamaqua crash

1943 Douglas C-47 crash

A Douglas C-47A similar to the accident aircraft
Accident
Date	21 November 1943 (1943-11-21)
Summary	CFIT (controlled flight into terrain)
Site	Locust Mountain, Mahanoy Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
Aircraft type	Douglas C-47A
Operator	United States Army Air Forces
Registration	42-32929
Flight origin	Lawson Army Airfield
Destination	Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove
Passengers	5
Crew	4
Fatalities	7
Injuries	2
Survivors	2

On November 21, 1943, a Douglas C-47 aircraft crashed into Locust Mountain in Mahanoy Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. Seven of the occupants on board the aircraft were killed, and two survived with serious injuries.

Accident

On the night of November 21, 1943, three Douglas C-47A aircraft took off from Lawson Field in Fort Benning, Georgia. They were heading to NAS Willow Grove in Horsham Township, Pennsylvania, to pick up CG-4A gliders and tow them to Maxton AAF. At the time, Maxton was the site of the largest CG-4A glider pilot training base in the world.

In the airspace around Washington, DC the three aircraft entered a large storm front and lost visual contact with one another. Captain Bernard Cederholm, the pilot of 42-32929, decided to divert to the now-abandoned Barnsville Auxiliary Airfield near Allentown, Pennsylvania. Due to weather circumstances and low visibility, Cederholm failed to locate the airfield. He was following a holding circuit when the aircraft hit trees on Locust Mountain, located approximately an eighth of a mile west of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania at 2110 EST, and broke up. A fire broke out on impact, and seven of the nine aboard were killed. The two survivors left were Corporal Joseph W. Enloe and Private Charles H. Davis, who were found wandering around the site of the crash a half hour afterwards. The force of the crash was so powerful that it is reported that the tail was thrown approximately 1,500 feet away from the impact site.

Aircraft

The aircraft, a Douglas C-47A with the tail number 42-32929 was first flown in 1943.

Crew

In total, seven of the nine occupants onboard 42-32929 were killed in the resulting crash:

Cause

The cause of the crash was never fully determined, although it is believed to be a case of CFIT (controlled flight into terrain).

References

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