50 years on ...victims of our forgotten plane crash
In July 1970, Douglas Gill was due to go on holiday to Spain with his younger brother, 19, & his girlfriend but cancelled at the last minute as he couldn’t afford it. The teenage sweethearts were among 112 who died when their plane crashed into mountains near Barcelona. They were, astonishingly, all buried in a mass grave within 48 hours..
In a cemetery filled with birdsong on the outskirts of a Spanish town, 112 Britons lie in a mass grave sheltered by pine trees, victims of a tragedy forgotten by most of the world.
But a memorial bears all of their names and the way their landscaped resting place is cared for shows the locals at least still remember them.
So, of course, do the families of those who died on Dan-Air Flight 1903 – although it is unlikely many others are aware of this “forgotten” disaster on its 50th anniversary.
The holiday flight from Manchester Airport was en route to the Costa Brava on July 3, 1970, when it crashed while approaching Barcelona.
The de Havilland Comet 4 went down in dense trees on the Montseny mountain range and its wreckage was found the next day at 3,800ft.
Then, to the horror of families expecting loved ones to be repatriated, within 48 hours the 105 passengers and seven crew were buried together 40 miles away, in Arbucies.
Among them were teenage sweethearts Norma Smith, 18, and George Gill, 19. The couple, who had never flown before, had been due to travel with George’s elder brother Douglas, then 23, his wife and five-year-old son.
But weeks before the trip, delivery driver Douglas had an accident at work – and as he did not get sick pay, he could not afford to go.
Douglas, 73, said: “My brother was frightened of flying and said he wished he had booked a week in Blackpool instead. “But I told him, ‘Don’t worry, you will only be flying two hours, you’ll be there before you know it’. About a week before he went, he said, ‘If I hear of a plane crash before I go, it will put my mind at ease but if I don’t, it is going to ours’.
“He seemed to have a feeling that something wasn’t right.”
News of the crash broke the next day.
Douglas said: “I was in bed and my wife got up to make some breakfast.
“I heard her scream. She said, ‘Your George’s plane has crashed, it has just been on the radio’.”
Later, a police officer arrived to confirm the “unbelievable” news the plane had crashed. And the bereaved families suffered a further blow when they realised Spain, then ruled by dictator Francisco Franco, would not return their loved ones. Douglas said: “We were expecting the bodies to be brought back to Manchester and then it came on the radio they had been buried in a mass grave. It was another shock for us because it meant we could not have a funeral. Franco was in power and the law was if a body had been left out in the open more than 24 hours, it had to be buried. It may have been on health grounds, with the climate being hot.”
George and Norma were buried in Arbucies, 24 miles from the holiday resort of Lloret de Mar, on July 6.
Two months later, Douglas travelled 1,100 miles by road from Manchester with parents George and Florence, his sisters Lilian and Anita, and little brother Mel.
He said: “My mother would not fly after the crash, so my father hired a caravanette. It took us three-and a half days.”
Locals led them to see the crash site, a section of the range known as La Font de la Cresta.
Most of the wreckage had been removed.
But Douglas said: “There were still bits and pieces lying around.
“Shoes, plastic cutlery, fragments of metal. It was horrendous.”
An official probe found the plane was 32 miles from where it should have been as it started its descent in clear skies. This was blamed on a combination of mistakes by the crew and air traffic control.
Entire families were killed in the disaster – and 45 of those who died came from Lancashire towns such as Burnley, Nelson and Ramsbottom. They included Raymond Cowpe, wife Mary and schoolboy sons Paul and Mark, from Burnley.
The miner and his weaver wife had
saved hard all year for their holiday to Lloret de Mar.
Their niece, Hazel Taylor-Wheatcroft, 61, said: “We saw them on the Sunday before they went. They were really excited. I remember my uncle Raymond put £5 under the rug in the front room, so they would have some money when they came back for groceries.”
Hazel, 11 at the time, around the same age as cousins Paul and Mark, said the crash was “devastating”, adding: “When we went to their house after the crash their mugs, which they had used for cups of tea, were still on the draining board.” Weeks later,
Hazel travelled to the grave site with sister Heather, mum Cynthia, who was Raymond’s sister, dad Alan and grandparents Alfred and Gertrude Cowpe.
They went by train, refusing to fly.
Hazel, who now lives in Lanzarote, said “It was absolutely heartbreaking.
“I remember crying for my cousins. We were a really close family. A lot of people don’t know about the crash. I suppose back in those days it was in the newspaper and that was it.
“There was no social media. It has been forgotten really.” But the lovingly tended grave in Arbucies is testament to the respect in which the town holds the victims.
Gemma Font, who cares for the crash archives at the local museum, said: “It will always be remembered here, even when everyone who was alive at the time has passed.
“It is important those who died in such a huge tragedy are not forgotten.”
Douglas added: “We really appreciate what the people have done there.
“It is such a nice place, the cemetery, the way they have landscaped it, it is lovely. It is like going on a pilgrimage.”
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the father-of-two, from Shaw, near Oldham, Gtr Manchester, had hoped to return to Spain and pay tribute to his brother for the 50th anniversary.
Instead, he will attend a ceremony with other relatives at 3pm on Friday in Padiham Cemetery, near Burnley. Hazel had also planned to visit. And on Friday, her thoughts will turn once again to the aunt, uncle and cousins she so tragically lost. She said: “They will be in my heart all day.”
It was another shock as it meant we couldn’t have a funeral
DOUGLAS GILL ON THE MASS GRAVE FOR VICTIMS