In The News

  • Bristol hit most by air disaster

    Bristol Evening Post Tuesday April 17th 1973 The official list of victims and survivors of the Swiss air disaster was read today’s meeting of Abridge Rural Council and showed that Bristol suffered more dead than any other place. Council chairman, CIr. John Walter, read out the list. The figures are: Survived Died Abridge 15 12…

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  • Crash fund may top £20,000 tonight

    Evening Post, Tuesday April 17th 1973 Crash fund may top £20,000 tonight Gifts pouring in for families bereaved by the Swiss air disaster looks like top- ping £20,000 by tonight. The general launched to cover fund the Axbridge, Cheddar, Congresbury and Wrington areas has now reached £11,085. The people of Basel have contributed more than…

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  • No ‘grief probe’ in villages 

    No ‘grief probe’ in villages 

    Bristol Evening Post Tuesday April 17th 1973 There was relief in four Somerset villages today that they will be able to mourn victims of the Swiss air disaster in private. Strenuous official denials have quelled fears of a psychiatric survey of grief In Axbridge, Cheddar, Congresbury and Wrington.  Mr. John Todd, chairman of Abridge Parish Council,…

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  • Crash fund may top £20,000 tonight 

    Crash fund may top £20,000 tonight 

    Bristol Evening Post *** Tuesday April 17th 1973 Gifts pouring in for families bereaved by the Swiss air disaster looks like topping £20,000 by tonight. The general launched fund to cover the Axbridge, Cheddar, Congresbury and Wrington areas has now reached £11,085.  The people of Basle have contributed more than £5,625 and money pouring into…

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  • Victims are flown back 

    Victims are flown back 

    Bristol Evening Post *** Tuesday April 17th 1973 The 106 victims of the  Swiss plane disaster were flown back to Bristol today a week after they set off on what was to have  been a happy day out. The bodies were flown into Lulsgate Airport from Basle in a Vanguard of Invicta International airlines.  Funeral services will be…

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  • The quiet heroine holidays ‘at home’ 

    The quiet heroine holidays ‘at home’ 

    Bristol Evening Post *** Tuesday April 17th 1973 One of the quiet heroines of the aftermath of the Swiss air disaster was today on holiday in Cheddar, one of the villages worst hit by the crash.  Swiss-born Miss Rebecca Stockli, a doctor’s assistant in Basle, was back in the home where she spent some time…

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  • AIR CRASH PUZZLES 

    AIR CRASH PUZZLES 

    Sunday Telegraph April 15th 1973.  By JOHN SMALLDON AMONG the many questions still unanswered following crash last Tuesday’s of Vanguard Oscar Papa at Hochwald in Switzerland, two seem to be most relevant to investigators probing the cause of the disaster.  How could an aircraft, as is usual when so near to touching down, under the strictest…

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  • 146 in Bristol plane crash

    146 in Bristol plane crash

    Bristol Evening Post ** Tuesday April 10th 1973 Day trip ends in snow plunge-‘some injured’  A Vanguard charter plane from Bristol, with 139 passengers on board, crashed in severe snowstorm near Base airport in Switzerland this afternoon.  First provisional official reports were there was an unspecified number of survivors.  NEWS FLASH Swiss news agency ATS…

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  • Day out for alr crash orphans 

    Day out for alr crash orphans 

    By John Christopher, Daily Express Saturday 14th April 1973 THE ORPHANS of the Swiss air disaster were whisked away from the heart-breaking atmosphere of two motherless villages yesterday. Forty children from Axbridge and Cheddar in Somerset were taken to the seaside cinema at Weston-super-Mare to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The day-trip tragedy,…

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  • The snow melts to reveal its secrets

    The snow melts to reveal its secrets

    Source – Bristol Evening Post ©copyright [1973] Bristol Evening Post From MALCOLM SMITH Hochwald, Saturday The snow is melting now from the tracks leading to the crash scene of Vanguard Oscar Pappa where I stand and contemplate in silence. Overhead, a helicopter carrying members of the investigation team flits into view momentarily between the tips of…

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