An old Douglas C-54 (DC-4) beloging to Alaska Air Fuel company crashed six minutes after taking off from Fairbanks Airport in Alaska on Tuesday.
The four-engine piston aircraft had two pilots on board and crashed into a hill next to the Tanana River. There were no survivors.
A video released by Alaskan authorities shows the C-54 with one of its left engines on fire and losing altitude until it crashed.
A Douglas C-54D-DC Skymaster, operated by Alaska Air Fuel, crashed after takeoff from Fairbanks International Airport, in Alaska. #c54 #dc4 pic.twitter.com/KwRJmxXNLX
— Air Data News (@airwayaviation) April 24, 2024
The C-54 with registration N305AV would have been manufactured in the 1940s and operated in the USAAF, Royal Air Force and US Navy before being sold to civilian companies.
Developed by Douglas (currently part of Boeing), the DC-4 was a passenger aircraft that appeared shortly after the famous DC-3.
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But its differences were its greater size and capacity, as well as an expanded range and tricycle landing gear.
There were 80 aircraft produced as the DC-4 and 1,163 as the C-54, its military designation. Douglas soon launched the DC-6, an improved variant.
