C-53 Crashed in '46 - Looking for Info on Plane

[ataubert]

Hi,
My name is Alberta Snavely Taubert. My grandmother, Alberta Snavely was on a C-53 transport plane that crashed in the alps in 1946. I have finally found a copy of the book, "Twelve Walked Away" written about it but would like to find a picture of the exterior and interior of the plane as well as a drawing of the interior layout. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You

 

[evangilder]

A C-53 looks identical to a C-47 Skytrain. The only difference is that the C-53 has only a small door for paratroopers and no cargo door. I have pictures of both interior and exterior of a C-53 on my home computer. I will post the interior shots tomorrow. Here is the exterior of one. Note the door just forward of the invasion stripes.

 

[evangilder]

Here is the inside of that same aircraft. One shot is from the rear of the cabin looking forward and the other from the front, looking aft.

 

[ataubert]

Thank you so much for the great pictures! I look forward to the others. One of the women on the plane which went down in the alps wrote a book about the event titled "Twelve Walked Away" (because miracaluously all abord survived). The author describes the interior and how the incline of how they crash landed posed such a problem for them. Being a visual person it will be very helpful to me to be able to see the inside of the plane.

 

[evangilder]

What the pictures don't show is that the interior is on quite an incline anyway because of the landing gear being a tail dragger. It's quite pronounced. It's good testimony to the design that they all walked away. The DC-3 designed aircraft were very reliable and durable. There are companies still flying them today to haul cargo.

 

[ataubert]

Thank you again, the pictures are great and give me a much clearer understanding. And that's interesting about the landing gear, I can't wait to share all of this with my brothers and sisters, thank you again.