Incident Overview

Date: Friday 17 May 1946
Aircraft Type: Douglas C-47B-1-DK (DC-3)
Owner/operator: United States Army Air Force – USAAF
Registration Number: 43-48308
Location: within India – ÿ India
Phase of Flight: En route
Status: Aircraft missing, written off
Casualties: Fatalities: 11 / Occupants: 11
Component Affected: Convair CV-240-7 AP-AEGConvair CV-240-7 AP-AEG
Category: Accident
On November 5, 2009, a Convair CV-240-7 AP-AEG crashed on a wooded hillside near Birmani Kami in Tripura, India. The crash occurred following a communication error where the pilot mistakenly responded to a call from Barrackpore, stating he had nothing for it. The wreckage was subsequently located by the United States Department of Defense’s JPAC, who determined it was the crash site of the aircraft.On November 5, 2009, a Convair CV-240-7 AP-AEG crashed on a wooded hillside near Birmani Kami in Tripura, India. The crash occurred following a communication error where the pilot mistakenly responded to a call from Barrackpore, stating he had nothing for it. The wreckage was subsequently located by the United States Department of Defense’s JPAC, who determined it was the crash site of the aircraft.

Description

Crashed on a wooded hillside. The airplane was carrying the remains of allied prisoners of war (POW) from Rangoon to Calcutta-Barrackpore. The pilot radioed Barrackpore at 06:10 UTC to report he had passed over Akyab at 05:30 UTC, was flying on instruments, and expected to arrive at Barrackpore at 08:00 UTC. At 06:15 UTC he called for weather, which Barrackpore had to send twice due to heavy atmospheric interference. At 07:05 UTC the pilot mistakenly responded to a call from Barrackpore to another aircraft and said he had nothing for Barrackpore. This was the last contact with the flight. On November 5, 2009, Clayton Kuhles of miarecoveries.org claimed to have located the wreckage near Birmani Kami in Tripura in India. During late 2013, the reported wreckage was investigated by a team from the United States Department of Defense’s JPAC (Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command). They concluded the wreckage was in fact the crash site of Convair CV-240-7 AP-AEG crashed March 14, 1953. There were also reports that the wreckage was discovered in January 2012 by the Indian paramilitary Assam Rifles. The site was found after a four-month search operation. Nothing more was heard from this find.

Source of Information

https://web.archive.org/web/20130404001915/http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=1a714cfb-5ba4-4186-b1ec-70e214f4c4b0, http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/db.asp, https://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/c-47/43-48308.html, https://www.stripes.com/so-many-questions-botched-recovery-mission-didn-t-follow-jpac-s-own-protocol-1.271273https://web.archive.org/web/20130404001915/http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=1a714cfb-5ba4-4186-b1ec-70e214f4c4b0, http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/db.asp, https://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/c-47/43-48308.html, https://www.stripes.com/so-many-questions-botched-recovery-mission-didn-t-follow-jpac-s-own-protocol-1.271273

Primary Cause

Communication Error and Misinterpretation of InstructionsCommunication Error and Misinterpretation of Instructions

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