1965 Cambrian air crash, Viscount 701 G-AMOL (Images added)

[kevmul]

Liverpool Echo have posted a couple of interesting photos from the Cambrian aircrash on 20 July 1965. They may be familiar to some, but I've not seen them before.

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/multimedia/nostalgia/images/2010/07/02/thompson-and-capper-aircrash-100252-26776316/ (2022, the link no longer features those photographs).




NB: In 2022 this link connects to the Liverpool Echo current 'News' page.

[Deleted]

Yes, it was known as Mothacks where the Cambrian Viscount crashed. Hope I'm right I'm sure that someone will put me right if I am not. I remember the night it was overcast and I think it was raining!!!

Bob

[Deleted]

You're right on both counts Bob. Officially it was called Thompson & Capper, but everyone knew it as Mothaks.
aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19650720-0&lang=en

Looking at those photos was very spooky, especially as I've never seen them before. As I think I've mentioned before, I knew the crew of the flight and was waiting for it to land, because we were all going for a drink afterwards. They were a Cardiff-based crew and due to return there the next day. Also, I had done the paperwork for the outbound flight, and of course the investigation team came and took it all away as part of the inquiry, which gave me sleepless nights wondering whether something I had done had caused the crash.
The fourth picture with the fireman in the white helmet looks for all the world like my father, but he'd retired by then. The first crew on the scene were from Banks Road station, where my father had been based.

[speedbird1960]

Found this cracking website with a very detailed report and photos.

www.cambrianairways.org.uk/page_2357969.html (Dead link, see the NB entry below)

The website has got some good information about Cambrian Airways.

Mike / Speedbird






NB On the death of the site administrator, Garry "gjh47", his family 'pulled the plug' on his fascinating and wide-ranging Cambrian Airways images and memories website.

[FoLA]

Yes, a very informed article - sadly though, another instance of people nicking material as this was my work! At least they said they had 'borrowed' it from the web and left the original 1997 copyright name in. However, it would have been nice to have been asked for permission to use in such a way. Incidently, the wreckage photos belong to Don Stephens.

I have researched the Mothaks 1965 crash extensively and published this knowledge, acquired photos (legally) and information in at least 3 successive articles in the FoLA house magazine '09/27'. This filched account was the earliest version.

Interesting that this Cambrian Airways site stops photos being nicked by inhibiting the 'right click and save'. Kettle/Pot/Black?

Anyone interested in such events (as this crash) really should be a member of FoLA where definitive articles are published in 09/27.

Graham (Ed. 09/27)

[Deleted]

Flippin nerve - they've nicked some of MY photos too. Just a quick look and I've found one of G-ALWF leaving LPL on a lorry...my photo, my dad's car in the front of the photo....no request to use ever received. Damn cheek.

Wouldn't mind so much, but no sign of a credit anywhere

[gjh47]

I am the owner of the Cambrian Airways tribute site and am eating humble pie due to email sent to me by Brian Jones regarding comments on this page. I have replied to Brian with an apology and would also like to apologise publically here. I am ex Cambrian and my aim is to keep the memory of Cambrian alive and record all the info I can find in one place to be passed on to the University of Wales, Aberystwyth where the Cambrian Reports & Accounts are housed after my demise for future generations to enjoy. Nearly all the material on the site has either been sent to me, including various batches from various photographers or permission asked. I have also a large photo and slide collection where I do not always know the photographer, I also buy material from various places like ebay. I also find material on the net sometimes credited sometimes not. I accept I am guilty sometimes of being either lazy, short of time or skills to add text to that small amount of material I have used on the site. It is only recently that I have blocked the taking of material from the site as one site I shall not name has taken material and credited to themselves then blocked anybody else using it, anybody that contacts me and there have been many I am only to happy to provide scans of my material for their use as the more they appear on the web the better the memory of Cambrian is, I also have a large amount of cine film on YouTube which has been copied and used elsewhere sometimes credited sometimes not. during the 70s/80s/90s I also took a lot of Welsh Bus Operator photo's and made them freely available to societys which also appear on other sites uncredited, I did not take offence but understand how others might. I am always happy to add a caption or credit if contacted or remove the material from the site. again I profusely apologise my lack of tact to anybody I have offended as no offence was intended. Regards Garry. www.cambrianairways.org.uk
ps: probably a bit of cheek under the circumstances I am desperatly trying to obtain any Cambrian Material out there to preserve and archive for posterity.

[FoLA]

GJH..

Thank you for your explanation - Apology accepted.

If you could just credit the 'MOL wreckage photos to 'Don Stephens' please, I have no further axe to grind.

If you PM me your e-mail address, I will furnish you with the latest copy of the 'nicked' article.

Regards

Graham

[gjh47]

Graham. Thank you for your apology acceptance, my contact address is [e-mail]. In partial defence the article I used to illustrate this important event in Cambrian History was found on the net and I did add where it was obtained and the Author, no contact address was obvious, I was unaware this was not the latest version and it was inexcusable not to try and find a contact address to check the facts and ask permission. Regarding using the photographs if you look in the index on the left of the site there is a complete section on Don Stephens photo's which he sent me and is credited it him, I re-used these 3 photo's in the Cambrian Crash section to illustrate but did not recredit them, again sloppy by me and inexcusable. I am sorry for the offence caused it was not intended as I rely on people to send me information to gather as full a picture of Cambrian as I can to pass on to future generations. I can only finish with sorry for my shortcomings over this article. Regards Garry.

[Deleted]

I'd also like to set the record straight and thank GJH for his apology and message. No harm done and will now sort out and see if I can offer any more photos to the Cambrian website...some great memories there .

Cheers,

Dave

[gjh47]

A few lines on my memory of Oscar Lima crash at Liverpool from the Cardiff HQ end. I was on duty when OL crashed and when OE hit the Terminal. When the news first broke at Rhoose of the OL crash there was shock and disbelief with a lot of comings and goings, a large part of Cambrian Aircrew lived at Rhoose and St Athen and the Traffic Desk was inundated with wives and families trying to find out the names of the Crew on that flight, we already knew in the office but could not say anything untill the official anouncement, it was 46 years ago now and I was only 19 years old, but it was Cambrian's darkest day and will always stick in my memory.
On a some what lighter note, when the Engineers taxied OE on a brakes test and it hit the Terminal, after it was known that there were no injuries the incident became the butt of many jokes at Rhoose, there were also many other minor mishaps that don't always get well reported the funniest being the DC3 Yo-Gibar incident at Gibraltar. Garry.

[viscount]

As a postscript to the crash of 'OL, a short tale from long ago when there was no internet, forums or e-mail.

Some years later (suspect around early 90s) the Airport management got a call seeking information about the crash site. The query eventually found its way to accounts who passed it onto me. The query had come from the scientific staff at Ridgways - Purveyors of Speciality Teas, as they had heard about the aircraft that came through the roof when their factory was Mothacks, but could not find evidence of the repair!

With a few hours I had photocopied a MAS 'Flypast' account of the AAIB Report and written of my memories (I was 14 at the time) of the way in which a new larger factory was built around the remains of the old one, which was then demolished inside the new structure. Thus explaining why there was no evidence in the roof panels of any repair. I dropped these off with the factory gateman.

The following day the Chief Scientist arrived on my doorstep with a big carrier bag of sample teas, mugs and various logo items. Probably the only tangible 'reward' I've ever had for passing on historical aviation information!

Ridgways teas have long moved out of the factory, indeed even the 'new' factory on the site of the crash has in the past year or two been demolished, the site now reduced to a weed-grown concrete floor ..... and now the site of Supermarket.

PS Still have one of the mugs, just found it and now have to correct the spelling I'd used for the company name. BPJ.

Added in later:

These photos are also on the 'Accidents and Incidents at Liverpool Airport' thread. However are equally as relevant here:



Vickers V.701 Viscount, G-AMOL, on the apron at Speke 28th April 1965, three months before its tragic demise.







The remains of the Viscount, having been cleared from the crash site and loaded onto 'Queen Mary' trailers were kept secure overnight in an Airport hangar, then on a Sunday morning departed for AAIB inspection at Farnborough.


There is another, somewhat similar thread with the same topic elswhere on NWAN Forum:

derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/10268/cambrian-airways?page=1

[danairamb]

Amazing, thanks for that postscript Viscount. What a weird sequence to demolish the factory after a new one had been built around it. It seems like a very short time ago that this happened, I was 10 and had just had my first flight ever in a Cambrian Viscount, so it seemed very close to home - which it was. I remember Cambrian were short a viscount at their busiest time and they chartered an Aer Turas DC-4 to cover some of their sectors. I remember family friends not being very impressed by this - expecting to fly in a viscount and getting a DC-4 that was mostly used for freight.

David in Ottawa

David in Ottawa

[gjh47]

danairamb, yes you are right Cambrian did lease in the Aer Turas DC-4 during that busy period, they had tried to lease a BEA or Cnannel Viscount but none were available and they were lucky to get the DC-4 at such a busy period. It often turned up at Rhoose during this time, At that time Rhoose daily movements were Cambrian & Dan Air DC-3s, Cambrian, Aer Lingus and the occasional Channel Viscounts and F27s with the occasional British Midland DC-3 & DC-4 Argonauts on Hourmont Charters, We were used to the drone of the DC-3s and the whine of the RR Darts but the noise, smoke and smell of this DC-4 made it seem like a Dinosaur to us. Liverpool had a much bigger variety of visitors so it would not seemed so much out of place there. As a young man with Cambrian and a keen interest in Civil Aviation if asked back then I would bet on Cambrian & Channel still being around today instead of BMI, a good reason why I was never a betting man. I believe one of the main reasons for the demise of so many of the Independants, and there were many, was the rush to join the Jet Age without a Route Structure to support them back then, but thats another story I could start a new thread on but probably off topic on this site. Garry.