Douglas C47B G-AMRB

Greenside Hill, Largs, Ayrshire

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UK (Starways)

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Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Alan Leishman and Alasdair McLeod for kindly providing photos for this page and for the Photo Gallery.

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All photographic material remains the property of the original author, and may not be reproduced elsewhere without that author's prior written permission.

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Easily accessible low rising moorland / hill slopes with some rough ground in places.

Shortest route: from A760 at Camphill Reservoir to Greenside Hill.

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Aircraft Photo

BELOW: Actual photo of Starways Douglas C-47B G-AMRB taken at Liverpool (Speke) Airport.

This was the same aircraft that crashed near Largs, Ayrshire, while on a positioning flight to the former (Glasgow) Renfrew Airport.

Douglas C47B G-AMRB at Liverpool Speke Airport sometime before the crash

Postcard photo kindly provided by

David J. Smith

(author, High Ground Wrecks and Relics)

Aircraft Type and Background

Starways Douglas C-47B-35-DK Dakota / G-AMRB

Civil Transport (ex Military Transport)

Aircraft Type Nickname: "Dakota"; "Skytrain"; "Gooney Bird", and others.

The Douglas C-47 aircraft was a military version of the Douglas DC-3. the C-47B variant was powered by two R1830-90 engines, equipped with superchargers and extra fuel capacity for extended flying by the military. This particular C-47B, however, had been decommissioned and disposed of for civilian use. At the time of the accident, it was being operated by Starways.

Starways was a British airline, operating from 1948 to 1963, when it was taken over by British Eagle. Its operating base was Liverpool (Speke) airport. Among other types, Starways operated Avro Ansons, Douglas DC-3's, DC-4's and Vickers Viscounts.

BELOW: A C-47B Mk IV in RAF Transport Command livery, now owned and operated by Classic Flights Air Atlantique. RAF code: KK116. Civil registration: G-AMPY.

A C47 of RAF Transport Command

Photo: 2008 Adrian Pingstone (Arpingstone). Released by the author to the public domain under the terms of the Wikimedia Commons licensing arrangement.

Aircraft Accident Details

It is sometimes reported that the aircraft involved in the accident was a Douglas DC-3. However, according to the accident report, and to Mr Blane Sr.—a former Renfrew aerodrome fireman who attended the crash scene—it was a Douglas C-47B. The C-47 was the military variant of the DC-3; although, by this time, it was in civilian use. The C-47 was known as the 'Dakota', or sometimes, the 'Gooney Bird'.

This aircraft had departed from Liverpool Speke Airport and was on approach to the former Glasgow Renfrew Airport a positioning flight. The aircraft had been chartered to fly to Lourdes the following day.

The C-47B was making an instrument approach to Renfrew aerodrome when it struck Greenside Hill at 1250 ft msl.

According to the accident report, the crash was due to pilot error. The report states that the Captain permitted the aircraft to descend below the approved safe height for approach to Renfrew Airport. As a result, the aircraft hit the ground some miles short of the airport.

Of the three crew members on board, a pilot and air hostess survived. A second pilot, however, was killed in the accident.

The surviving pilot pulled the air hostess out of the wreck, crawled down the hill with a broken back, ribs and other severe injuries to raise the alarm, and then crawled back up to the crash site. When the fire crews arrived, they couldn't run hoses up but could only take hand held extinguishers, which were ineffectual.*

* The information in the last paragraph above was provided by Mr. Blane Sr. (fireman in attendance), and was very kindly passed on to the author of this website by his son.

Being a positioning flight only, no passengers were being carried at the time of the accident.

Aircraft Crew Casualties

The airline pilot who died in this accident was:

Noel C A Stanley, Wallasey, Cheshire

He was found dead inside the aircraft wreckage at 22.00 hrs on 28th March 1956.

The name of the surviving pilot was Geoffrey Moss, Liverpool.

The name of the surviving air hostess was Hilda Phillips (24), Liverpool.

Crash Site Photos

BELOW: Some small pieces of wreckage from the C-47 Dakota that crashed here in 1956. These fragments formed most of the remaining wreckage when the photo was taken in 1990.

some small pieces or wreckage were all that remained of the c47 when this photo was taken in 1990