Buffalo DC-3 TO Engine Failure, Emergency WU Landing 8/19/13

[bmoran]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/sto ... crash.html

A Buffalo Airways DC-3 made a hard landing Monday at the Yellowknife airport after its right engine burst into flames, 30 seconds after take-off.

None of the 21 passengers and three crew on board the flight was injured.

The owner of the Second World War-era plane says it was built to endure some tough landings and his pilots did some quick thinking.

"Nobody got hurt. Nobody got shook up. They said it was quite smooth other than the very end; there was a little bit of a bump,” said Joe McBryan.

“I think the crew did a marvelous job under the circumstances. Mechanical problems do happen and it’s how you react to it. I think they reacted very well to it."

[Warbird Kid]

Glad to hear no was injured. Lets hope the damage isn't too severe.

[mrhenniger]

Incident was just reported on CBC Radio 1's show, As it Happens. It was reported the DC-3 came down through the trees coming to rest on the grass 300 ft short of the runway.

Mike

[Pathfinder]

What is her C- code?

[Lynn Allen]

What is her C- code?

C-GWIB

[Todd Hackbarth]

The aircraft involved is C-GWIR, not C-GWIB! It is C-47A-20-DL 42-23509, c/n 9371.
According to Gradidge, this aircraft was assigned to the USAAF 8th Air Force between 03/12/1944 and 09/23/1946.

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?aircraft_genericsearch=&airlinesearch=&countrysearch=&specialsearch=&daterange=&keywords=C-GWIR

[Pathfinder]

All C-47s going to the ETO were received into 8th AAF before being assigned to ATC or 9th AAF etc. Translating her C-registration to a construction number yields a serial number 42-23509. Found this which puts her in the MTO in 1943:

S/Sgt Clifford Swearingen was crew chief on board of C-47 42-23509. Sgt Swearingen was on one of the C-47s carrying paratroopers of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regimental Combat Team. Both crew and plane belonged to the 47th Troop Carrier Squadron, 313th Troop Carrier Group. The plane was part of a serial of 144 transports, delivering reinforcements to Sicily. The plane formation flew over the invasion fleet, off shore between Scoglitti and Gela. The formation was fired upon by friendly fire. Sgt Swearingen was killed inside the airplane. The plane flew back to its base in Tunisia.
Staff Sergeant Swearingen was buried in the temporary American Kairouan cemetery, where he was buried in grave A-1-10. In a later stage of the war Staff Sergeant Swearingen was reburied in the [bigger] temporary American Beja Cemetery, where he was buried in grave C-8-11.

After the war his remains were repatriated and buried in the Putnam Valley Cemetery in Drain, Oregon.

23 of the 144 planes were shot down on the second night of the Operation HUSKY--July 11, 1943. For all the discussion on WIX about invasion stripes...this operation and the resulting tragedy was the primary reason for the introduction of wing and fuselage markings for Normandy. Over the years I have spoken to several members of the 504 who were aboard planes in this formation.

[K5DH]

Who were the pilots on this flight? It looks like they did an amazing job of handling what must have been a terrifying situation. Based on his comments, Joe apparently wasn't aboard.