Month: April 1973
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These 68 booked a trip to disaster.
Western Daily Press April 11th 1973 THE 68 passengers booked through Mendip Travel of Yatton were: FIVE members of Cheddar Mothers’ Group: J. Baker, Mrs. Mrs. Edwards. Mrs. G. Heritage, Mrs. A. Latham, Mrs. H. Lane. SIXTY-THREE members of Abridge Townswomen’s Guild and relatives: Mrs. B. Hopkins, Mrs, V. Avery, Mrs. Gould, Mr. R. Keen, Mr.…
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The Queen distressed
Western Daily Press April 11th 1973 The Queen sent this message from Windsor Castle to Mr. Heseltine: “I was very distressed to hear of the crash of the Vanguard of Invicta International Airways in Switzerland today, with such a heavy loss of life. “Prince Philip and I send our deepest sympathy to the relatives of those…
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The plane
Western Daily Press April 11th 1973 THE VANGUARD, powered by four Rolls- Royce Tyne turbo-prop engines and seating from 130 to 140 passengers, was built by the British Aircraft Corporation. The Vanguard which crashed yesterday was originally delivered to Air Canada in July 1962. It was sold to Air Holdings in 1968 and acquired by Invicta…
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The waiting and the praying in Axbridge
Western Daily Press April 11th 1973 By Mary Wright, Martin Turner and Wilf Giles THE GRIEF-STRICKEN town of Abridge was dazed by the tragedy. In the pubs radios were turned up to full volume to tell them the grim news of the mounting death toll. In the narrow streets townsfolk stood talking in muted tones, wondering…
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Death in the snow
From DENIS MARTIN Bonn Daily Mirror report, April 11th 1973 A ROW of bodies lie on snow-covered Swiss mountainside- as rescuers stand helplessly by. This was the grim scene after the plane crash in which 110 Britons, nearly all of them women, died yesterday. Rescuers found snow conditions so bad that they had to call…
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Flight was ‘jinxed’
Daily Mirror April 11th 1973 A JINX was always hanging over the ” hen party” special, the husband of one passenger claimed last night. Abridge villager Eddie Hopkins said: Originally, the flight was to have taken place last week But there was some confusion and it was postponed.” He added: ” I thought it was…
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Pilot tried to go back
By ELLIS PLAICE, Air Correspondent Daily Mirror 11th April 1973 A RAGING blizzard caused yesterday’s Vanguard plane crash in which 110 Britons nearly all of them women died on a day trip to Switzerland. The captain of the four-engined turbo-prop is thought to have changed his mind about landing at Bale Airport because of the appalling…
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Day trip to disaster.. 110 die in snow
From NED GRANT in Axbridge Daily Mirror 11th April 1973 They were the villages of lost mothers last night four little communities in the Somerset countryside, numbed by the horror of a miles away. tragedy 500 miles away More than 100 of their women were aboard a day-trip plane that plunged into a Swiss mountainside in a…
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Crash plane equipped for Arctic conditions
Evening Post Wed April 11th 1973 Invicta International owners of the crashed air- craft, were taken over only two months European ago by Ferries, the powerful company operat- ing the Thoresen Town- send boats. Invicta, based at Manston, Kent were founded nine years ago as a cargo air- line but soon developed a passenger market and…
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‘We were singing moments before.
Evening Post Wed April 11th 1973 One of the survivors was Mr. Fred Tjolle, a former Bristol travel agent licensee, who now has an antique stall in Bristol Market. He is the father of Mr. Valere Tjolle, a partner in Unicorn Travel. From a he hospital in Basle, told today of the appalling conditions in which…
