Incident Overview
Date: Thursday 8 June 1944
Aircraft Type: Douglas C-47A-65-DL (DC-3)
Owner/operator: China National Aviation Corporation – CNAC
Registration Number: 85
Location: Kunming, Yunnan Province –
ÿ China
Phase of Flight: En route
Status: Destroyed, written off
Casualties: Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Component Affected: Wing #85Wing #85
Category: Accident
A C-47 aircraft, five of which arrived over Dinjan, experienced a fuel tank explosion resulting in the catastrophic failure of wing #85. The wing disintegrated, causing the aircraft to fall to the ground. A jack pad was removed from the right wing root, creating four large holes directly beneath the fuel tanks and in line with the exhaust. Upon descent, the flames only extended as far back as these holes, leading to a flame propagation that ignited surrounding fumes and ultimately caused the wing to detach.A C-47 aircraft, five of which arrived over Dinjan, experienced a fuel tank explosion resulting in the catastrophic failure of wing #85. The wing disintegrated, causing the aircraft to fall to the ground. A jack pad was removed from the right wing root, creating four large holes directly beneath the fuel tanks and in line with the exhaust. Upon descent, the flames only extended as far back as these holes, leading to a flame propagation that ignited surrounding fumes and ultimately caused the wing to detach.
Description
Five CNAC C-47’s arrived over Dinjan. A fuel tank explosion caused the wing of #85 to fail. The airplane disintegrated and fell to the ground. The jack pad had been removed from the right wing root. This left 4 large holes directly under the fuel tanks and directly in line with the exhaust. When the pilot cut the throttles to descend, the flame only went as far back as the holes. There the flames went up around the fuel tank, igniting the fumes and blew the wing off.
Primary Cause
Fuel tank explosionFuel tank explosionShare on:
