Imperial Airlines Flight 201/8 was a Lockheed Constellation L-049 four-engine propliner, registration N2737A (c/n 1976), chartered by the United States Army to transport new recruits to Columbia, South Carolina, for training. On November 8, 1961, at 21:24 Eastern Time Zone (EST), the aircraft crashed as it attempted to land at Byrd Field, near Richmond, Virginia. While there were no apparent impact-related injuries, all seventy-four passengers and three crew members died as a result of carbon monoxide asphyxiation in the ensuing fire and smoke. Two crew members—the captain and flight engineer—survived after escaping the burning wreckage.