The 1946 Railway Air Services Dakota crash was the crash of a Douglas Dakota 3 of the British airline

Railway Air Services Railway Air Services (RAS) was a British airline formed in March 1934 by the Big Four railway companies (the GWR, LMS, LNER and SR) and Imperial Airways. The airline was a domestic airline operating routes within the United Kingdom linking up ...

1 km north-east of Northolt Airport,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, United Kingdom on 19 December 1946.

Aircraft

The Dakota involved made its first flight in 1944 as Douglas C-47A ''42-92633'' military transport of the

United States Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

(USAAF) and had Douglas serial number 12455, it was transferred to the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

(RAF) as '' KG420''. KG420 was registered to

as a Dakota 3 in March 1946 with the British registration G-AGZA, powered by 2

Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92 Twin Wasp The Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp is an American air-cooled radial aircraft engine. It displaces and its bore and stroke are both . The design traces its history to 1929 experiments at Pratt & Whitney on twin-row designs. Production began ...

engines.

Crash

The Railway Air Services Dakota was ready to depart from

Northolt Aerodrome ("Ready to carry or to fight") , pushpin_map = Greater London , pushpin_label = RAF Northolt , pushpin_map_caption = Shown within Greater London , coordinates = , type = Royal Air Force station , code = , site_area = , height = , owners ...

, United Kingdom on a scheduled service to

Glasgow Airport gd, Port-adhair Eadar-nàiseanta Ghlaschu , image = Glasgow Airport logo.svg , image-width = 200 , image2 = GlasgowAirportFromAir.jpg , image2-width = 250 , IATA = GLA , ICAO = EGPF , type = Public , owner = AGS Airports , hub = *eas ...

on behalf of

Scottish Airways Scottish Airways was an airline serving most of Scotland, especially the Highlands and Islands. It was active from 1937 until 1947, when it was merged into British European Airways. History Foundation The company was established on 12 August 1 ...

and had a total of four crew and one passenger on board. The aircraft had been de-iced since it was a cold, snowy evening which had delayed the departure. While the Dakota was waiting the temperature dropped and snow began falling which froze on the wings. The aircraft was finally ready for departure and taxied into position for take-off. The snow storm had closed the airport to incoming traffic and outbound traffic was subject to long delays. The aircraft had been waiting for more than an hour for clearance. When the flight received clearance, the pilot ran the engines up to 45.5 inches of manifold pressure and 2,500 RPM. When the pilot accelerated down the runway he noticed that when the aircraft lifted off, it could not gain any height. The ice on the wings disturbed the air flow, which resulted in the aircraft not gaining any height. It was however too late to abort take-off so the pilot was forced to try to get the aircraft to climb. The aircraft flew only a few metres high straight down Angus Drive from the end of the runway until the left wing contacted some rooftops and the aircraft slewed through 90 degrees and came to rest on the roofs of two houses at 44 & 46 Angus Drive in the London suburb of

South Ruislip South Ruislip is an area of west London in the London Borough of Hillingdon, south-east of Ruislip, south of Eastcote, north-west of Northolt, and west of South Harrow. A 2017 estimation put the population of South Ruislip ward as 13,150 residen ...

. ''G-AGZA'' was severely damaged and radio officer Murdoch was fortunate that he wasn't sitting in his seat as some metalwork was pushed through the seat and it would probably have killed him had he been sitting there. Irene Zigmund and her 4-month old-son David were in the neighbouring house (44 Angus Drive) house at the time, but the aircraft came to rest on the roof without even waking the child who was asleep in his cot upstairs. In fact no one was injured in the incident, the crew and passenger all descended into the house's loft, down the loft ladder onto the landing and then down stairs out the front door. The aircraft was a total loss and the house was badly damaged. Repairs were completed within six months, although oil stains would re-appear in the ceilings for the next 10 years.

Investigation

It was quickly determined that the cause of the crash was the snow which had frozen to the aircraft's wings while G-AGZA was waiting to take-off, resulting in the aircraft not gaining any height. The house it landed on was subsequently nicknamed "Dakota Rest". The pilot was also assigned a cause factor for an error in judgement by taking off "when the aircraft was almost entirely covered with snow." The crash landing on the houses earned the captain the nickname "Rooftop Johnson".

References

{{Authority control Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error Airliner accidents and incidents caused by ice Accidents and incidents involving the Douglas C-47 Skytrain Aviation accidents and incidents in England 1946 in the United Kingdom December 1946 events in the United Kingdom December 1946 events in Europe Aviation accidents and incidents in 1946 Aviation accidents and incidents in the United Kingdom