VT-CGI  Douglas DC-3CS1C3G                                    (c/n  20176)

                           

                              This was the former C-47A-90-DL Skytrain 43-15710.  When civilianized in 1945 it became VT-CGI
                              and was allocated to Airways (India) Ltd.       It is seen above in this blurry, but extremely rare shot at
                              Kathmandu, Nepal in the late 1940s from the Kamal Tuladhar collection.   In May 1953 seven airlines
                              were merged, by government decree, into the Indian Airlines Corporation and initially given line numbers.
                              Airways (India) Ltd was Line 1.     After being absorbed into the Indian Airlines fleet, VT-CGI crashed
                              during a thunderstorm on  29 March 1959 on a flight from Calcutta to Imphal.     Structural failure was
                              given as the probable cause following overloading of freight.