A bit late, but...!
As the days draw closer to a new year and the 60th anniversary of the crash of Viking G-AIVE on Irish Law, we thought we’d announce that we will be holding an event at Lochwinnoch RSPB Visitor Centre at 1pm on Sunday 20 April 2008 – the day before the 60th anniversary of the incident. On the day, James and Dougie will be giving an illustrated talk on the project which will also include the first public airing of video footage of Vestal’s steward, the late Con Moroney, talking about his experience of the crash. We also hope to have a couple of surprises on the day!
At this stage in the project, we’re piecing together all the information obtained from a plethora of sources and assembling it into readable, logical format! Looking through the folders of paper copies, correspondence, maps and technical data, and delving into numerous computer files it is really pleasing to have located all this valuable information in a comparatively short period of time. There are still a few little areas to be clarified, but the ‘research phase’ of the project has more or less been concluded – that’s not to say if more information becomes available that we won’t be interested!
Of course, our research would have been far less profitable had it not been for us communicating with a great many people who have helped us with details of their relatives, friends, colleagues and the events of that night nearly 60 years ago. To all of them, a great many thanks. We are also pleased that so many other people have expressed an interest in the project, with over 70 recipients of our Viking Crash Research News publication in locations as far away as Ireland, the US, Canada and Australia. Our press coverage, from local newsletters and papers to national publications proves that there is great interest in what - pardon the cliché - was a ‘miracle escape’.
In other news, Dougie has nearly completed a 1:72nd scale model of Viking G-AIVE. A resin and white metal kit was used as the basis of the model, with extra details added in brass rod. The painting has almost been finished, with only the decals left to apply. These decals were custom designed so that Vestal could be depicted in the livery worn at the time of the crash. The model will be on display at our April event.
Through Lady Hunter, we have made contact with Mrs Brenda Moore, who has kindly provided us with details about her late husband Hobart Moore and his colleague Jimmy Wilson. We had guessed that Mr Moore and Mr Wilson were travelling together on business but she has been able to confirm this. We have also been able to trace some details of the last years of the Captain of the flight, John Ramsden. An appeal for information is due to appear in the March 2008 edition of Icarus, the publication for retired employees of British Airways (and BEA/BOAC) and we hope that this might produce further details of both John Ramsden, and the Radio Officer, Arnold Lloyd. Both of these players in the story have been possibly the most difficult to locate information about.
It just remains for both of us to thank you all for your kindness and interest in our project. We wish you very best wishes for 2008.