Aircraft History
Constructors Number 4836. Assigned tail number VH-CDW. The C-53 is a militarized version of the DC-3. Assigned to Air Transport Command, Australia with tail marking 62-TG-66.

Wartime History
Force landed when the pilot overshot Broome at night and flew on for another 400 miles. Force landed wheels-up in the dark in the only clear area for 50 miles near Varsittart Bay, about six miles south-west of Truscott (before Truscott Airfield was built). All of the crew survived. Some of the aircraft's parts were salvaged during the war.

Wreckage
Cargo door was salvaged after the war by West Australian Airlines - MMA (MacRobertson Miller Airlines).

References
Allied Air Transport Operations SWPA in WWII - Volume One, page 345
Thanks to Stan Gajda and Daniel Leahy for information

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Last Updated
October 1, 2009

C-53

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