Darbhanga Aviations

Darbhanga Aviations was a private Indian airline started by Maharaja Kameshwar Singh of Darbhanga. Darbhanga Aviations was started in 1950 and became defunct by 1962.
History
After World War - II, many military planes had become surplus and were sold at cheap price. Darbhanga Aviation was started with four Douglas DC-3 aircraft (2 No.s of C-47A-DL and 1 No. of C-47A-DK), purchased from the U.S. Air Force.
Incidents and Accidents
One of these planes (Registration - VT-DEM) got destroyed in an accident near Calcutta on 01-03-1954. This plane was on Scheduled Domestic Service out of Calcutta, India, when it crashed on takeoff from Calcutta. The No.1 engine of the DC-3 caught fire immediately after takeoff from Calcutta runway 19R. The aircraft failed to gain height, stalled and crashed into trees, 3330 feet past the runway end. 2 of the 8 passengers, and all 3 crew members aboard the DC3 were killed in the crash. The 6 surviving passengers were all critically injured. Although the engine fire was the primary cause of the crash, the pilot was also cited for a delay in feathering the engine, and the extreme nose up altitude of the plane during takeoff. Both of those factors contributed to the downing of the plane.

Another plane bearing registration No. VT-AYG crashed on 24 MAY 1962 near Rajshahi in Bangladesh. The cause of crash has been attributed to fatigue failure of the no. 1 engine forcing the crew of the DC-3 to continue on a single engine (no. 2). After a while the remaining engine lost power due to overheating resulting in crash of the aircraft.
The third aircraft (registration No. VT-DEM) was taken over by Indian Air Force.

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