1956 Atlantic R6D-1 disappearance [SEP] point in time
1956 Atlantic R6D-1 disappearance
The 1956 Atlantic R6D-1 disappearance involved a Douglas R6D-1 Liftmaster (BuNo 131588) of the United States Navy which disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean on 10 October 1956 with the loss of all 59 people on board.
Accident.
The R6D-1 – the U.S. Navy version of the United States Air Force C-118 Liftmaster and the civilian Douglas DC-6B airliner – was carrying a crew of nine and 50 passengers on a scheduled Military Air Transport Service flight from RAF Lakenheath, England, to Lajes Field in the Azores on
piece to the bottom of a gully at a point about from the Lualualei Naval Ammunition Magazine and burned. Witnesses reported that the fire was large enough to redden the night sky for over two hours, and remained hot enough that rescuers were unable to approach the wreckage for several hours. No survivors were found.
The accident was the first of two major air disasters involving an R6D-1 in less than 19 months, the second being the disappearance of an R6D-1 over the Atlantic Ocean in October 1956.
Investigation.
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