Atlanta – Chattanooga – Knoxville – Cincinnati – Chicago

On June 15, 1954 at 05:45 PM, Atlanta – Chattanooga – Knoxville – Cincinnati – Chicago experienced a crash involving Douglas C-47 Skytrain (DC-3), operated by Delta Airlines, with the event recorded near Atlanta-William Berry Hartsfield Georgia.

The flight was categorized as cargo and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

2 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 2 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is weather. As the aircraft became airborne the landing gear was retracted. Light rain was encountered at this time. When the air-craft had climbed to 200 to 250 feet, power was reduced to 35 inches of manifold pressure and a shallow right turn was begun. Before a reduction in r.p.m. was made the aircraft began to settle and the airspeed was observed to decrease rapidly from above 105 to 80 knots. The nose was immediately lowered to level flight, & the turn stopped, and full power applied. When this was done, the air-speed returned to about 100 knots and the settling appeared to lessen considerably. The increased airspeed with the attendant better flying characteristics was monetary, however, as the airspeed abruptly dropped to 60 knots and the airplane again began to settle. As the aircraft continued to settle and it became obvious that it was going to strike the ground, the first officer attempted to raise tile nose. Upon feeling the aircraft strike the ground, both throttles were closed. The aircraft then skidded to a stop in a wooded area approximately 600 feet north-west of the far end of runway 21. The airplane was destroyed and both pilots were injured.

Aircraft reference details include registration N51359, MSN 13759, year of manufacture 1944.