Engine/Wing Fires
Reading the account of the safe outcome of the ANA DC-2, after suffering an Engine fire with subsequent detachment of the engine and wing fire, I was reminded of an accident which had a very different outcome. As a young RAAF engine mechanic based at 2AD RAAF Richmond the 4th February 1958 was seared into my memory. This day the RAAF lost Neptune A89-308 and eight crew as a result of an uncontrollable engine nacelle/wing fire following the uncontained failure of one of the Power Recovery Turbines (PRT's) in the port engine. Sadly, the fire caused sufficient damage for the port wing to fail during the recovery to Richmond, with the aircraft impacting inverted into the eastern bank of the Hawkesbury River at Cornwallis near the RAAF Richmond base.
I relate this, not to cast any aspersion on the Airmanship of the pilots of A89-308, simply to reinforce how different the outcome for Capt Croucher and those aboard the ANA DC-2 could have been.