The Douglas VC-47H veered off the runway on takeoff, crashed and caught fire. On the day of the crash, the copilot was in the left seat, making the takeoff. He was inexperienced on the DC-3 aircraft (33 hours), having been aboard 5 months. During that time, he had logged seven landings, three takeoffs from a start, and three touch-and-go takeoffs. He had only one training flight. When cleared to take off, the aircraft made a 90-degree right turn onto the runway, and the copilot began a rolling takeoff, without locking the tailwheel. He felt the aircraft was tail-heavy because it took a long time to come up. A swerve to the right developed but was corrected with rudder. Another swerve to the right began, followed by a gradually increasing left turn. About 1600 feet after starting the takeoff, the aircraft left the runway at a 30-degree angle, indicating about 60 knots. The aircraft became partially airborne in a nose-high attitude. They traveled 700 feet off the runway until they saw a drainage ditch in front of them. One of the pilots kicked the aircraft back to the runway heading and paralleled the ditch with the port main gear overhanging the ditch. The aircraft hit an earthen bridge, commenced a cartwheel for 150 feet, and came to rest in another 150 feet, straddling the ditch. The ruptured fuel tanks were already burning before the aircraft came to a stop, and ultimately it was almost totally consumed by fire. All but one crewman onboard evacuated quickly. He was trapped in the aircraft and perished. Within the next week, two others died as a result of burns.