Few in flight events are as  horrifying as  an in flight fire, because most will end in disaster.  Never was this more evident than in the crash of a C- 47B  near Weimar, California on January 4, 1949.  This accident took the lives of pilot Lt. Harry D. Allen, Captain  Ernest M. Klein (copilot), Sgt. John H. Myers crew chief and five passengers.  The passengers were, Captain in A. E. Beasley, FH3 Phillip Alexander (U.S.N.), Private First Class Francis H. Wright, Private First Class C. W. Prouse and Private A.D. Mascarenas

     Lt. Allen was in command of the ship which was on a routine Military Air Transport  flight (MAT) from Hill Field in  Utah, to McClellan field in Sacramento, California.   He was just twenty-five years old and had  more than 661 hours flying time at the time of the accident.  His flying experience included 388 hours in C-47 type aircraft, and 111 hours of instrument flying time.

     The aircraft itself had 2,589.50 hours on the airframe, with no indication in the report of an overhaul.  The engines were R-1830-90Cs.  They each had  approximately  500 hours on them since an overhaul.

     A month and a half before the accident, this same aircraft had a fuel line replaced on the right engine due to chafing at a point near the starter.  On January 2, 1949 the aircraft made a precautionary landing at Hill Field due to low oil pressure on the left engine.  There was no indication in the crash report as to what caused the problem, or what action was taken.

     The morning of January 4th did not start out well for Lt. Allen.  After the morning pre-flight was completed, he attempted to start the right engine.  He had considerable trouble with the engine and soon the starter was burned out.  The maintenance crews replaced the front bank of spark plugs and installed a new starter.  The engine then  started and the flight got underway.  It is interesting to note, that just two and a half hours later, on this same flight, the right engine caught fire, resulting in the crash.

    The full story of this accident is featured in the new book "Aircraft Wrecks in The Mountains and Deserts of California", (3rd edition), by G. Pat Macha and Don R. Jordan

    This new book is a database of California aviation accidents, and is now available  from Info Net Publishing, or any retail book store.