Douglas C-54 crash in Alaska

[deskpro590]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/douglas-dc-4-plane-crashes-river-fairbanks-alaska/story?id=109546864

Details still emerging. Some sites say DC-4, some say C-54.

[CAPFlyer]

They're the same thing (for all practical purposes). The aircraft in question is N3054V, a "C54D-DC".

https://www.reddit.com/r/flightradar24/ ... fairbanks/

Sadly, it sounds like the crew didn't make it.

[airnutz]

Wow, this bird had some history according to Mike's Aerial Visuals. Former USAAF, RAF, USN, Aero Union...etc..
http://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDos ... rial=71867

There's some better days videos on Youtube under Alaska Flying:Douglas DC-4/C-54 in Palmer where it was based out of. Condolences to all the folks concerned.

[Randy Haskin]

[JohnB]

Sorry to learn this. That aircraft was often photographed in its bicentennial colors...and later retro Douglas factory scheme. Condolences to the families and friends of the crew.

To elaborate on the DC-4/C-54 question:
I hope you find this as interesting as I do...

A lot of people don't realize that out of the 1244 DC-4/C-54 built by Douglas in the U.S....just 79 were civilian DC-4s.

Surplus C-54s were too much a bargain for airlines to pass up.
Postwar, the WAA sold C-54As @$75,000; C-54C/D @$90,000; and C-54E/G @ $100,000 whereas Douglas wanted $385,000 for a new DC-4-1009.
Unsurprisingly, airlines bought surplus machines.
They also offered a C-54 like freighter called the DC-4-1037. It did not make a single sale.

United cancelled its order for 1009s, bought surplus C-54s. It wasn't a total loss for Douglas, they ordered DC-6s at $595,000 each.
Douglas also did conversions of '54s to 4s.

Other C-54s remained government property and were leased to airlines. Some of those were recalled to active service during Korea.

Of the 79 civil ships, most went to foreign carriers.
American airlines which bough new DC-4s were National (7), Western (5), and Northwest (3) and Waterman (1...me neither).

I was a bit surprised to learn all this...you'd think there were more factory civil ships built.
So the take away is...when you see a DC-4, it more than likely began life as a C-54.

[Paul Stroud]

I won't link it but there's a clear video on You Tube from a security camera. Looks like the no.1 engine literally exploded on climb out, the 'plane then starts a bank to the left and descends in a dive to impact. No chance for the crew to recover. RIP.

[K5DH]

Internet news report this morning said the plane was operated by Alaska Air Fuel. RIP to the crew.

[Stoney]

The Army had 3 C-54s based on Kwaj in the early 70's, flown by civilian pilots wonder where they went.

Attachments

[DoraNineFan]

For those not wanting to watch, security video shows No 1. engine on fire and exploding followed by an immediate loss of control.

ATC communications are available, but I CAUTION that it is difficult to listen to.

[Noha307]

ATC communications are available, but I CAUTION that it is difficult to listen to.

Having heard the recording myself, I want to second this sentiment. It is very hard to listen to. Consider this a warning.

[CAPFlyer]

Juan Browne has put out a video that includes the security video. Massive failure of the #1 that leads to an uncontrolled left roll and nearly vertical impact. Very, very sad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asQhWTfoVf4

[quemerford]

The Army had 3 C-54s based on Kwaj in the early 70's, flown by civilian pilots wonder where they went.

C-118 rather than C-54.

[Stoney]

You're right, i grabbed the wrong one from my collection. here's a Kwaj C-54.

Attachments

Last edited by Stoney on Fri Apr 26, 2024 11:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

[C VEICH]

Maybe it's just my old eyes but it looks to me like the vertical fin fails and collapses as the aircraft rolls over.

[CAPFlyer]

Maybe it's just my old eyes but it looks to me like the vertical fin fails and collapses as the aircraft rolls over.

It's possible, but there's a lot of loss of data due to the compression used for the security camera system unfortunately.