PI Staines (HS121 -3C)
 

Question from BA staff at Cranebank LHR. Is there a memorial plaque at Staines in respect of PI. We believe there is but if so where is it actually located. Thanks

To my knowledge as a past resident of Staines, there is no memorial or plaque of any description at or near the site, alongside the A30, (Crooked Billet).

Personally I think there should be. Many other disasters, ( and albeit lesser in scale), in the UK and elsewhere have had memorials established.

I actually saw that aircraft depart, and shortly after leaving LHR, unaware of the accident drove close by. Thereafter, I was a resident on the estate close by.

I do hope that this topic can start the momentum for a memorial.

May all those souls that perished, rest in peace.

Is the area where it crashed still open ground, or has it since been built on?

SSD

Still open ground, I believe. See the following photo, the A30 runs across the bottom left corner. I believe the crash site was between this road and the bottom of the photo, about 2 inches from the left.
http://www.multimap.com/bx793/gmp/50...00W500H310.jpg

The photo/map shows the exact location. It is still open land, though now under the ownership of Thames Water. If you stand at the first lay by on the on the A30 westbound past the Crooked Billet r/bout the field on your left is the site.

The memorial could quite easily be situated at this lay by.

In Barbados I saw a similar memorial for a Cuban DC8 that crashed offshore, and likewise in an earlier thread there is one for the Air India 747 off the Irish coast.

I was working on London Departures (as we called it then) at LATCC the afternoon of June 18th 1972 when Bealine 548 departed. I heard Captain Stanley Keys last transmissions. On the way home I had to drive pass the crash site. No M25 or M3 then. There were thousands of ghouls looking. The wreckage was clearly visible from the A30. The site now has flats built on it. Every time I pass I still think about that day.

Mr G.

Mr G.

Your experience in this tragedy is unique.

However, I hope I can correct the exact location. The site of the crash is between the flats/houses ie Moormede Est, (where I was a resident) and the A 30. The foundations of the estate were laid, and it was suggested that this area was used for the makeshift mortuary, and command area.

To use the comment of the first PC on the scene, (called by the nurse) 'they didnt tell us about this 'crash' exercise,' then it sunk in.

Just a reminder of two relevant reference sites:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/group...ty_502559.hcsp
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/d...00/2515787.stm

Much is made about the "ghoulish" sightseers, but it is interesting to see the AAIB comment on that

It is good to see such interest, I will check whether there is any memorial in St Georges Chapel at LHR. The mortuary was on the North side of the airport in an old hangar that would be forward I believe of the current Visitors Centre. I was a PC in the BAA Constabulary and spent two days assisting at the post mortems. It is not commonly known but one passenger survived for a day or so my memory fails as he a male passenger was brought to the mortuary some two days after the crash and I can recall that the deceased was trussed up like a mummy with only a small area of face visible. Which ever hospital he had been taken to had actually put two lengths of wood along his legs and back for support as so many of his bones had broken on impact. As stated if there is not a memorial than perhaps there should be.

ghouls
 

There were thousands of people returning from the coast, it had been a fine weekend.
I was on the M3 at about 7.00 p.m., we came to a halt about 2 miles from the then end of the motorway(the present junction 3).
There certainly would have been some ghouls but most were just going home.

HZ123, there may actually have been 2 survivors. A young girl who, according to the BBC report, died at the scene, and a Dublin businessman who died at Ashford hospital. I believe this was evidence from the retired nurse, who was alerted to the crash by the 13yo boy and, according to the AAIB report

Just after I first joined pprune I emailed Danny with a suggestion of a post on this subject, but I did not further it.

I hope that it can gain momentum.

HZ123 I think we may know each other from 'northside' can you if you email you may pick up my name. The portacabins were hot in the late 70's

I think a memorial to all those lost on 'papa india' is an excellent idea. I drove past the site and though about what happened there only the day before HZ123's original post. Do any pieces of 'PI' still exist? If they do, perhaps they could be melted down to form part of a memorial in the same way that many WW2 monuments have been made...

The tail section of a Trident which I believe to have been 'PI was visible on the dump at Farnborough the first few times I went there - presumably ex AAIB. It was sitting there in a manner most reminiscent of the terrible photos I remember of the crash at the time.

But IIRC, a clear out happened more recently - mid 80s? -and most of the wrecks there went to the smelting pot.

Are there any Farnborough guys reading this who can confirm Tread's memories are correct?

Memory of the Trident tail section is right, whether it was definitely 'PI or not is quite another matter! So far as I can recall it was the last BEA scheme: this was probably 1977 (I visited on a Sunday afternoon just in time to see Neil Williams (?) give his Jungmann an airing!) so some of the other 1cs may have been scrapped by then.

Perhaps the best memorial to PI and its many occupants, is the MOR scheme introduced into the UK on the recommendation of the public enquiry which followed the tragic PI accident. The purpose of the scheme being that we should all learn from the experience of others in this industry.........Just a thought

This topic has achieved a good/vote rating, so I will seek opinions on this suggestion.

I propose to write to;

Spelthorne Borough Council, ( the local borough for Staines)
Thames Water, (on whose land PI fell)
British Airways ( can anybody help with the best person)
British Airports Authority

and canvas opinion/sentiment for the establishment of a memorial at the site.

I will do so as a private individual, but would also seek support from this forum, if forthcoming.

(One of the current councillors at Spelthorne was a former Police Officer at Heathrow at the time, and may be able to assist).

I’m a little reluctant to post, but could someone please tell me I dreamt this. I’d not long left BEA Engineering (Hangars) at Heathrow when PI went in. I was then working in Singapore and picked up a Daily Telegraph. I’m certain that the photographs inside the DT included one of the cabin, with passengers still strapped in their seats. I vividly remember one shot. It was a youngish black guy, 30 something, in an aisle seat. He was wearing a tie and striped shirt. What I’m not certain of was the photograph caption. I seem to recall it said he was still alive: at the time.

On the one hand I can’t believe this happened, but on the other I’m certain it did. Anyone from the DT able to confirm this.

Forget,
Your description of the Daily Telegraph's photograph of the Staines crash is correct, and I believe it caused a controversy at the time . The photographer was ,I believe, Yugoslavian, and one of the first people on the scene. He may well have been a Freelance photographer or on detachment to the Daily Telegraph at the time of the accident. He was criticised in some quarters for not assisting in the rescue attempts rather than taking photographs of the devastation.
The photograph ,once seen , could never be forgotten.
Regards
Sabredog.