AIRLINER ON FIRE IN FLIGHT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 28, 13 November 1947, Page 5

AIRLINER ON FIRE IN FLIGHT

DC 6 Lands Safely NEW YORK, November 11. A burning American Airlines DC 6 airliner made an emergency landing at Gallup, New Mexico, to-day. None of the 21 passengers and the crew of four were injured. The pilot, Captain Evan Chatfield, said that although there was some smoke there had been no panic. He declined to say what part of the aeroplane had caught fire, but residents said that flames were leaping from the aircraft’s belly as it swooped low over the town. . When the airliner landed it had a 12-foot hole in the fuselage, into which firemen poured chemicals. Captain 'Chatfield said, however, that it was a technical question whether the fire was extinguished in the air or after he had landed. The airliner was a sister ship to the one which caught fire in flight and crashed in Bryce Canyon, Utah, on October 24, killing all its 52 occupants. American Airlines and United Airlines have announced that they are suspending all DC 6 services pending investigation of to-day’s fire. The Douglas Aircraft Company, manufacturers of the DC G, have asked all airlines to ground this type of aircraft until the fire hazard can be traced. More than SO of these airliners have been delivered to airlines. Mr Truman’s personal aircraft, named Independence, is a DC 6; The General Electric Corporation today ordered its factories to stop the shipment of photographic flash bulbs by air, because they can be set off by radar transmitters.