For years many thought was caused by a mistake A horrific plane crash on the ground in Wales
It is Ireland’s worst-ever air disaster, and for decades suspicion arose that Aer Lingus Flight 712 was shot down from a base in Ceredigion. Robert Harries reports
FIXTYSIX years on, it remains the worst air disaster in Irish history. Sixty-one people died when the plane they were travelling on crashed into the Irish Sea. e bodies of 47 of those have never been found. As with all fatal air tragedies, people want to know the cause, and in this case a nger was pointed towards the west coast of Wales.
On the morning of Sunday, March 24, 1968, a Vickers Viscount aeroplane, owned by Irish airline Aer Lingus, left Cork on its way to London. It was just a normal and routine ight to begin with, until communication with the aircraft conveyed a message from one of the crew.
It said: “Twelve thousand feet descending, spinning rapidly.”
at was the last anyone ever heard from Aer Lingus Flight 712.
Over the next few days, 13 bodies were recovered from the sea in an area around Tuskar Rock, a group of rocks containing a lighthouse situated some seven miles o the coast of County Wexford in south-east Ireland. A 14th body was discovered later.
Of the passengers onboard, 33 were Irish, nine were Swiss, six were from Belgium, ve were from the UK, two from the US and another two were from Sweden.
An investigation into the cause of the crash lasted two years but, much to the dismay of the families a ected, no conclusive result was achieved following the inquiry and, to this day, the tragedy’s cause has never been fully determined.
One of the main theories put forward, and believed, for years was that the ight was accidentally shot down by a test missile launched from a Ministry of Defence base in Aberporth in Ceredigion (then Cardiganshire), which was in the late 1960s considered to be the most advanced site for missile-testing in the whole of the UK.
For the grieving families, the lack of concrete answers led to them su ering abuse in their everyday lives.
“Because of the lack of facts, conspiracies came to life,” said David O’beirne, son of Barney O’beirne, the pilot on the fateful ight, as reported by the Irish Mirror. “ere was abuse, threats and intimidation against my mum and other sta members which was completely unfair and unfounded. People were blaming the pilot and co-pilot for what happened. For my mum, it was excruciatingly tough. After my dad died, she was out for dinner. Someone slapped her and said, ‘How dare you... your husband’s responsible for all those deaths’.”
e link to west Wales and the theory that the tragedy was caused by the British military stemmed from the fact there was no obvious
explanation provided for decades. But also, certain wording in investigator Richard O’sullivan’s report following the incident caused further speculation.
It read: “e conclusion that there was another aircraft in the area is inescapable. No aeroplanes have been reported missing, but there remains the possibility that an unmanned aircraft, either a drone target aircraft or a missile, might have been there.”
e report also noted: “Several witnesses from locations on shore saw an object in the sea in the vicinity of the Coningmore Half Tide Rock during the afternoon of March 24 and one witness saw a large splash in the area at or about 12pm local time. is evidence would not be inconsistent with the supposition that an unmanned aircraft had fallen in the sea, and remained a oat for some hours. No further evidence of this has come to light, and no sighting was made by any of the search aircraft in the vicinity during the afternoon and on the days following.”
A Western Mail article dated March 24, 1998, detailed one person’s discussion with a friend who was in the Territorial Army (TA) in March 1968, who had relayed to him a conversation he’d had with a colleague and friend who was also in the TA.
“He told me the friend was with a unit testing missiles and on the day in question they were
One of the main theories put forward, and believed, for years was that the ight was accidentally shot down by a test missile launched from a Ministry of Defence base in Aberporth in Ceredigion
down at Aberporth. ey arranged with Llanbedr (an air eld in Gwynedd) to get a drone to come up. It came up, they picked it up on the radar. ey
red the missile and it destroyed the drone and they saw it gradually fall away from the radar screen.
“Ten minutes later Llanbedr said, ‘When are you going to re your missile?’
“e ground ring unit said, ‘Yes, we have red it and we’ve destroyed the drone’.”
According to the article, “e caller said the unit realised that they had hit something other than their intended target launched from Llanbedr.”
ere was no black box recorder onboard the doomed Aer Lingus aircraft, as would be common today, therefore it was impossible for investigators to know precisely what had happened.
A new investigation was carried out in 2000, the results of which were published in January 2022. It was concluded, more than 30 years after the incident, that the crash was likely caused by a catastrophic event such as “metal fatigue”, rather than the plane being hit by another aircraft or a missile.
e report, compiled by a team of international experts at the request of Ireland’s public enterprise minister Mary O’rourke, stated: “An initial event, which cannot be clearly identi ed, is considered to be some form of distress a ecting the horizontal
tail of the aircraft. Possible causal factors are metal fatigue, corrosion, utter or a bird strike. ere was no involvement of any other aircraft or missile. e international team have carefully examined all aspects of the tests conducted in the UK ranges and of the sea and air activities performed on that Sunday. It is their opinion that all theories involving the presence of another aircraft can be rejected.”
Following that report’s publication, a spokesman for the British Embassy said: “e British Embassy welcomes the report of the international experts into the circumstances of the Tuskar Rock air disaster in 1968. It puts to rest once and for all misleading suggestions that the disaster was caused by a UK aircraft or missile. e UK authorities co-operated fully with the international experts in their investigation. Our thoughts are with the relatives and friends of those who were lost in the tragedy.”
While there has never been any evidence suggesting the involvement of the Ministry of Defence in the disaster, and the most recent inquiry absolves them of any blame, what exactly happened to Aer Lingus Flight 712 remains something of a mystery; what really caused the deaths of 57 passengers and four crew will probably never be fully understood.
A special event was held in Cork last month, attended by relatives of those who died, to commemorate the worst air disaster in the history of Ireland, and a memorial for those who lost their lives stands in the Irish port town of Rosslare.
Because of the lack of facts, conspiracies came to life
■ Researcher Geo Atkinson is looking to make a documentary about the disaster in an attempt to dig deeper into what happened. If you remember the incident or have any knowledge that could assist with the programme, you can contact Mr Atkinson by emailing Geo atkinson3@gmail.com