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Continuation of AAF Form No. 14.

Description of Accident and Aeronautical Accident Board's Report:

In an attempt to analyze and come to a conclusion about this accident, The Accident Board has carefully gone over the wreckage and the scene of the accident. Statements from all of the eye witnesses have been taken. All parties involved, even remotely, have been interviewed. The Chairman of this Board himself was present at the scene of the Accident shortly after the event.

The time of the accident has been placed at 2357 by the Operations Officer on duty. In witnesses' reports, the time varies from 2350 March 29, 1944 to 0004 March 30, 1944.

Witnesses testify that the aircraft, 0-46-A, 42-60953, left the ground before the ship was half way down the runway. This would mean that the ship was pulled into the air after a run about 2500 feet. The ship was loaded to a gross of 47,991 pounds. It is the Boards opinion that the ship could not have been adequate, safe flying in this time.

The loading of the ship was supervised by Lt. Earl M. Graft of the Air Freight Office, and according to his statement, attached to this report, the weight of the cargo was checked and properly balanced. Attached to this report are copies of the freight manifest and load computation.

Due to the darkness. witnesses have not been able to establish for sure whether the ship was on the runway at the time it was pulled into the air. Witnesses, not pilots, state that the left engine caught five [[fire]] about 100 yards beyond the tower.

It is the Boards opinion that an engine failure was not the primary cause of the accident. After daylight, the Board made a careful study of the ground and runway. Due to a thin cover of damp dirt on the runway, we were able to follow the tracks of the airplane from the beginning to the take-off run. The ship pulled to the left side of the runway almost from the beginning of the take-off run. The tracks run straight down to the side of the runway, about five feet from the left, or West, edge of the runway on a North take-off. Approximately 2000 feet from the end of the runway, are plainly visible in the soft dirt along the runway.

The tracks straighten out and run parallel to the runway for about five hundred feet. It is apparent that the pilot was trying to pull the ship off the ground and roll the left wing up to miss obstacles. The left wheel track disappears and the right wheel track skips over low spots and finally leaves the ground just opposite the Control Tower, or approximately 2500 feet from the end of the runway where the take-off was started.

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