The Douglas C-49A transport plane was operated by Australian National Airways on behalf of the United States Army Air Corps, 322 Troop Carrier Wing. The aircraft departed Manila, Philippines, bound for Brisbane, Australia with an en route stop at Tacloban. After a normal approach to Tacloban Airport, while at 100 feet on final approach, a storm hit the airport with heavy rain and strong winds. The aircraft touched down but the pilot pulled up and circled the control tower at 200 feet, heading over the bay. Nothing more was heard from the flight. The aircraft had impacted the water. One survivor was rescued from the water after five and a half hours. PROBABLE CAUSE: “The case of the accident is considered to be due to an unfortunate error of judgement on the part of the pilot in attempting to land under very unfavourable weather conditions, especially when he had at least 1 1/2 hours petrol in reserve for checking up conditions at the alternative landing field at Samar and also on Leyte itself or returning to Manilla when more than half way if weather conditions proved unfavourable. There is no evidence that the pilot was embarrassed by engine failure at any time and from Lt.McCabe’s statement that he was conversing with and sharing fruit with the pilot five minutes before the attempted landing, it would indicate that the pilot was perfectly happy with the sequence of events up to that time although they had been flying through storm areas with lightning and bumpy conditions. It was indeed unfortunate that McCabe was unable to inflate one of the dinghies due to the CO2 bottle becoming detached and so save other lives. The question of the serviceability of such equipment is the responsibility of the pilot, and although the question of serviceability of safety equipment has not been discussed with our Archerfield Staff due to pressure of time, it is understood that this matter has received attention and there is no reason to believe such equipment was not in a satisfactory condition prior to the crash.”