High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Cathay Pacific Douglas DC-4 shootdown was on the 23 July 1954 when a four-engined propeller-driven Douglas C-54 Skymaster airliner. registered VR-HEU, the military version of the Douglas DC-4 operated by the Cathay Pacific Airways was en route from Bangkok to Hong Kong when it was shot down by fighter planes of the People`s Republic of China off the coast of Hainan Island, killing 10 on board.