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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2015 9:01:51 GMT 1
57 years ago today a Bristol Freighter (in passenger configuration) on a flight from the IOM to Manchester crashed into the top of Winterhill with the loss of 35 lives. However the three crew and four passengers survived. The aircraft G-AICS although in Silver City colours was operating for Manx Airlines at the time. It also had another local connection in being based at Blackpool with Lancashire Aircraft Corporation during 1957 www.patricktaylor.com/winter-hill-air-disaster |
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Post by maverick on Feb 27, 2015 10:11:11 GMT 1
57 years ago today a Bristol Freighter (in passenger configuration) on a flight from the IOM to Manchester crashed into the top of Winterhill with the loss of 35 lives. However the three crew and two passengers survived. The aircraft G-AICS although in Silver City colours was operating for Manx Airlines at the time. It also had another local connection in being based at Blackpool with Lancashire Aircraft Corporation during 1957 www.patricktaylor.com/winter-hill-air-disasterSte-t Excellent link - good find. As many crashes are; unfortunately not just one error but a series of errors combining to create a disaster. Incidentally, this July will mark the 50th anniversary of the Mothaks crash at Speke - 20th July 1965. |
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Post by acklington on Feb 27, 2015 16:29:39 GMT 1
I was at Ronaldsway when the 1998 memorial was unveiled in the private ceremony referred to above.
We knew that the former Stewardess was to attend the ceremony, but as the survivors and guests assembled in the airport beforehand, no one knew her by sight. In an effort to avoid what could have been an embarrassing moment, I surveyed the assembled crowd, and sat quietly towards the back was an elderly lady with an unmistakable bearing and presence. I had no hesitation in going to her. It is somewhat flippant to say that you can spot 1950's aircrew, but you can.
The ceremony took place after airport closing time at 9 pm, to avoid the busy end-of-day rush of arriving flights and associated traffic noise and tannoy announcements. The memorial was also erected in the front garden of the airport, not least because we did not want an air crash memorial to be too visible to current passengers. So we erected a marquee in the front garden on top of the memorial, and held the ceremony in there.
It was a quiet February night, but also with just enough wind to make you aware of the elements outside. Then, as the two minutes of silence was called for, the only sound to interrupt the silence was that of one of the overhead Belfast bound freighters. It was surprisingly effective and appropriate. The ghosts certainly walked that evening.
There is another sequel to the Winter Hill crash, which is my main reason for this posting. I had read the full Air Accident Report, and in it I learnt that the ballast used to adjust aircraft weights in those days, was lengths of railway track, cut to precise weights, and painted with those weights on them. The report comments on them, to confirm that the aircraft was properly loaded and trimmed. However, the investigators never found two of the weights, so one might assume that they remain on Winter Hill to this day, embedded somewhere in the soft ground.
Curiously, a couple of years later I was walking on the Manx hills near Cronk-ny-Aree Laa, a place a few miles to the West of Ronaldsway and known for several wartime and post-war air crashes. Walking across the thick heather my foot caught on something and I stumbled. The offending object turned out to be a length of railway track, deeply embedded in the ground. It was no where near to any farmer's fence line (they use redundant railway track as fence posts), so I could only conclude that it was an aircraft ballast weight, flung far from one of the post-war air crashes. If it had not been for the Winter Hill report, I would not have thought anything of it. It is probably still there.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2015 13:25:57 GMT 1
Thanks Maverick, I didn't think of it at the time I posted it but the one thing G-AMOL and G-AICS have in common is that their remains were placed in hangars at Speke during their respective crash investigations. Maybe stretching it a bit far for ICS to be included in the Accidents and Incidents section for Liverpool, or is it? acklington, Interesting fact about the ballast and something a lot of us including myself were unaware of. Nice to know that there is a memorial at Ronaldsway though with such a large loss of Manx lives why it took 40 years is beyond me. I suppose either no-one asked for one or thought of it at the time. Jennifer Curtis (now Fleet) was the stewardess. She tells a little of her story in an article for the Bolton News at the time of the 50th anniversary. www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/2076757.stewardess_recalls_how_lucky_she_was_to_be_alive/Incidentally, if anyone is thinking of looking for a piece of rail track Richard Tierney has placed a picture on Flckr of the exact spot. www.flickr.com/photos/richardtierney/5481502124/ |
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Post by maverick on Feb 28, 2015 17:12:23 GMT 1
Nice to know that there is a memorial at Ronaldsway though with such a large loss of Manx lives why it took 40 years is beyond me. I suppose either no-one asked for one or thought of it at the time. Jennifer Curtis (now Fleet) was the stewardess. She tells a little of her story in an article for the Bolton News at the time of the 50th anniversary. Probably true too that there were very many more plane crashes in those days.. Today, any plane crash in the UK is rare, let alone with such a loss of life. |
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Post by speedbird1960 on Feb 28, 2015 19:34:00 GMT 1
Curiously, a couple of years later I was walking on the Manx hills near Cronk-ny-Aree Laa, a place a few miles to the West of Ronaldsway and known for several wartime and post-war air crashes. Walking across the thick heather my foot caught on something and I stumbled. The offending object turned out to be a length of railway track, deeply embedded in the ground. It was no where near to any farmer's fence line (they use redundant railway track as fence posts), so I could only conclude that it was an aircraft ballast weight, flung far from one of the post-war air crashes. If it had not been for the Winter Hill report, I would not have thought anything of it. It is probably still there. You might find this article useful Acklington : www.maps.org.im/archives/maps/research/aircraft-crashes-cronk-ny-irrey-laa-blackburn-botha-l6314 |
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