10.09am, Sunday, June 4, 1967

It was one of the darkest days in Stockport’s history. A plane full of holiday makers, travelling from Palma de Mallorca to Manchester Airport, crashed in a small open area at Hopes Carr close to the town centre. The crash claimed the lives of 72 of the 84 passengers and crew on board and left 12 people with serious injuries. Miraculously, no one on the ground was injured, but the disaster had, and continues to have, a profound effect on the lives of countless people. It is still the fourth worst disaster in British aviation history, and the third worst disaster to date to happen on English soil. Here, 50 years on from the tragedy, using archived newspaper reports from the time, and contemporary interviews with those whose lives were forever changed by the disaster, is the story of that fateful day.

Words by Helen Johnson and Alex Scapens

With grateful thanks to Ian Barrie and Roger Boden, the producers of Six Miles from Home, and Stockport Local Studies Library

The Argonaut’s flight path took the plane towards the big buildings. It missed them all. This was the miracle behind the tragedy...

THE passengers on British Midland Airways Argonaut G-ALHG were happy.

They had enjoyed their Mediterranean holiday and were looking forward to returning home.

The excitement mounted as the plane banked over Denton and they could see Stockport in front of them and knew they were only minutes away from Ringway Airport.

But in the cockpit, Captain Harry Marlow was worried.

He was having trouble maintaining his height and he knew he would never reach Ringway.