Help to locate and date incident.

During research for the Eagle Group of Companies I have found the following information to the issue of the incident at Northolt involving U.S.A.F. a C54.
The report is as follows:
When a USAF C- 54 caught fire last summer at Northolt it was so extensively damaged that no tenders were made for its repair. The aircraft was declared to be a write off and was sold for scrap to World Airways Inc. New Jersey. Who were likewise unable to find anyone to undertake its restoration. Last November 1955 Eagle Aircraft Services of Blackbushe offered to repair the aircraft and now, after some 70,000 man hours of work, it is almost ready to fly again March 1955. It entailed the rebuilding of two thirds of the fuselage(using the large portions of a surplice DC4 fuselage shipped in from Texas) the complete rewiring of the electrical system and installation of four new engines. Other spare parts were sought and found all over Europe
Project leader was Mr. Joe Weddup. Eagles repair manager.

A cargo of ‘wild’ animals?

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19650804-2

Wild?………they must have been livid!

I’ll get my goat…….

Ted raised this on another forum, I must admit I was surprised that an aircraft as old and numerous in USAF service as a C-54 would be repaired and returned to service after such major damage.

Gentlemen; Fantastic result thank you all for the info.
Regards
TED

A cargo of ‘wild’ animals?

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19650804-2

Found it incident of Fire at RAF Northolt was Thursday January 6th 1955

It caught fire during ground check at RAF Northolt and an American airman was killed – Two other men jumped clear, but man who died was overcome by fumes. No name provides in News report in The Times, Friday, Jan 07, 1955; pg. 5; Issue 53133; col C

Stab in the dark and going from (hazy) memory wasnt there a C-54 fire at Northolt at some point?

Bingo!

See Google Books

http://books.google.co.uk/books?ei=qoe3UKaOEcKShgf6pYGABQ&id=T3APAAAAIAAJ&dq=c-54+crash+USAF+42-72721&q=42-72721

Air Pictorial and Air Reserve Gazette
, Volume 19
Page 286

It quotes serial 42-72721 and mentions re-build following fire at RAF Northolt – No date of original incident though looks early 1956 (actually 1955 see later post)

Stab in the dark and going from (hazy) memory wasnt there a C-54 fire at Northolt at some point?

C-54, msn 10826, built 1945
USAF 42-72721
World AW N2079A
Slick AW N2079A leased from World AW
World Wide AW CF-NNN
?? N174A
Rutas Internacionales Peruanes SA OB-R-769
crashed on departure, destroyed 04/08/65 at PTY (AEROPUERTO INTERNACIONAL DE TOCUMEN, Aeropuerto de Panama)

Impressive damage, but the aircraft was later apparently repaired and later sold for civil use. It met its end in Peru in an accident.

Having this sort of damage repaired, can only mean that the incident was very early, in the 40s or early 50s?