The plane crash on a scale never seen before

Seventy-five years ago, a plane crash on a scale the world had never seen before happened in a tiny Welsh village.

The aircraft had been packed full of jubilant rugby fans on their way home from seeing Wales beat Ireland on 12 March 1950.

But just short of its final destination at Llandow Airfield in the Vale of Glamorgan, the plane crashed – killing 80 of the 83 people on board. It was, at the time, the world’s worst air disaster.

“A man from the rugby club came up and he just shook his head,” recalled Betty Rossiter, the sister of one of the victims.

Her brother, David Hawkins – known as Dai – had boarded the plane with his wife Kathleen, who he had married only six months earlier.

The couple had saved up £10 each for the trip as a honeymoon – an added element of anticipation ahead of a Five Nations game which promised a Triple Crown if Wales won.

“It was very exciting. I remember my mother saying, ‘our Dai’s going on an aeroplane, I hope he’ll be alright’,” recalled Mrs Rossiter.

The moment they learned that Dai and Kathleen had been killed, Mrs Rossiter, 85, said her mother “just went to pieces, and my father”.

“My mother was never the same after,” she added. “It was a terrible, terrible time.”

Among those watching out for the plane on that fateful day was a nearby RAF squadron whose commanding officer, Bill Irving, was on board.

“It was with some horror that they saw the plane approaching and it suddenly lurched upwards and crashed to the ground,” explained Flt Lt Martin Wade, historian for 614 County of Glamorgan squadron.

“Many of our officers raced towards the runway to the scene of the crash and were among the first at the scene,” he added.

“They sadly had the duty of pulling their commanding officer’s body from the plane, alongside all the others who lost their lives.”

All five crew members on board the Avro Tudor plane were killed, alongside 75 passengers.

The devastation would come to “haunt” the RAF officers who witnessed it, according to Flt Lt Wade.

An investigation would later find the plane may have been overloaded, and that extra baggage had not been weighed.

Seven of those killed were linked to the rugby club in the village of Llanharan, Rhondda Cynon Taf.

Llanharan was much smaller then than it is today, meaning the impact was particularly far reaching.

“I remember the funeral of all the victims coming though Llanharan – the biggest I have ever seen in my life,” remembers Alan Rossiter, Betty Rossiter’s husband, who was a 10 year old child living in the village at the time.

“It was a sad day for Llanharan because there was so many of them.”

Alan Jenkins, a club member at Llanharan RFC, has looked back through the club’s archives from the time.

“There was quite a long time before there was any mention of it in the club’s minutes,” he said.

“For several weeks after there were no meetings held, and it was as if it never happened.

“My perception of that is it was just too big – they didn’t quite know how to handle it as a club.”

Incredibly, three people survived the crash.

Two of them – Handel Rogers, who became president of the Welsh Rugby Union, and his brother-in-law Gwyn Anthony – were sat at the back of the plane in extra seats, newly fitted.

The third, Mel Thomas from Llanharan RFC, was in the toilet at the time of impact.

Speaking to BBC Wales on the 60th anniversary, he said he could not remember much of the accident.

Abercarn, in Caerphilly county, was another village that was deeply affected by the crash.

Four members of Abercarn’s local rugby were among the dead.

Albert John Robbins – known as Jack – was one of the men who died.

He had been Abercarn RFC’s baggage boy, unable to play rugby any more after being severely wounded in WW2.

According to Mr Robbins’ niece, Michelle Iles, he had “jumped at the chance” of a ticket to go on the trip after another family member had to pull out.

It was a cruel twist of fate for Mr Robbins and so many of those who lost their lives.

“For these families to get their boys back from the war who had fought for their country and to come through that and to lose them in this tragic accident, it was just devastating,” she reflected.

Ms Iles recalled seeing two precious items at her grandparents’ house during her childhood, both of which had belonged to her uncle Jack – a shoe and a wallet.

These were all that could be recover from the plane’s wreckage that belonged to him.

The disaster is remembered on both Llanharan and Abercarn RFC’s badges to this day.

To mark the 75th anniversary, an RAF flypast at the site of the crash and a memorial event took place last Sunday.

Among those who spoke was Cerrig Day, 16, from Abercarn RFC who said he felt it was his generation’s responsibility to pass on the story.

“These boys kept this club alive – we feel it’s really important to make sure the history lives on,” he said.