I still pray for the 118 I tried to help
Nurse who ran from her home to crashed plane reflects on tragedy
Frances Castledine’s words to the man found lying in a fuel-soaked field near the remains of a crumpled passenger jet were soft and reassuring. “You’re OK. We’re looking after you. Everything will be sorted out.”
Frances gave him oxygen and splinted his broken legs at the site strewn with luggage. Her comforting voice, with a soft Irish lilt, was probably the last one that Melville Miller ever heard.
Melville was a passenger on the British European Airways flight 548 that crashed 50 years ago in Staines, Surrey, 150 seconds after taking off from Heathrow Airport, killing 118 people.
As she recalls the unthinkable scene she encountered on June 18, 1972, exnurse Frances, now 80, says: “If I’d been a ward sister I would not have coped with what I saw that day. But because I worked in accident and emergency I’d been trained to deal with acute trauma.
“Even so, it impacted on me deeply for at least two months.
“I knew I had to get on with life and being busy with a small baby helped. But there were many private moments when I took quiet time on my own to pray. I still pray for the people lost.”
Frances was tidying upstairs at home when an immense bang cut through the quiet summer’s day. She dismissed it as roadworks until two brothers Paul and Trevor Burke, then aged nine and 13, knocked on her door begging for help.
They had seen the plane – which was on its way to Brussels – plummet into a field. Trevor said: “It was like a dream. The plane just fell out of the sky. We saw it hit the ground. The front bit hit first and the back bit was blown away.”
Aside from the aircraft hissing, it was silent – there were no voices crying for help
FRANCES CASTLEDINE ON WHAT SHE FOUND AS SHE ARRIVED TO HELP
The brothers ran a quarter of a mile to Frances’ house, knowing she had worked as an accident and emergency nurse. Frances says: “I told the boys they should go home, as it could be dangerous for them. Then I went next door, told my neighbours what Paul and Trevor had said, and asked them to look after my baby while I ran to see what happened.”
A 6ft concrete wall blocked her way to the crash site. Adrenaline kicked in as she strived to help any survivors. Frances says: “I took a few steps back, then took a run and jump at it. And I was over.”
She adds: “I imagined a much smaller plane. But it was this enormous Trident passenger plane. I was really shocked to see it. The tail had come off and the main fuselage was some yards away, so it was completely broken up.
“There was a tremendous smell of fuel, and the grass underneath was wet with it. I worried about staying there because it was really dangerous.
“But I decided to stay. If there were people alive I felt I’d be able to help them. Sadly, aside from the hissing of the aircraft, it was silent – there were no voices crying for help.”
Frances was one of the first on the scene of what remains the UK’s worst ever air accident. Two paramedics who Frances knew from her six years at the hospital joined her as they searched for survivors. Frances says: “As we went looking in the aircraft, it seemed a lot of the people were dead. There was no movement at all.” Irish businessman Melville was almost unconscious and unable to speak. He died soon after arriving at hospital. None of those on board survived. Frances says she knew there was no hope, adding: “We were just glad we were there to look after people as best we could.” So many drivers parked their cars along the nearby A30
to see the disaster area that emergency services workers were delayed reaching the site.
“I didn’t see all the onlookers crowding as I was concentrating on the people we found,” says Frances.
“Eventually, the police came and one of the officers took my name and number. I told him it had been a privilege to be able to stay there and help.”
Six weeks on, Frances returned to the crash site with her husband. She says: “It was very poignant because it was a sunny day, but it was very quiet.
“When we first hear of people who died, we hear it in numbers and that’s a shock. But perhaps worse is when we learn their names, ages and how much they meant to their families. All their intelligence, their future and all the love they had in life, was gone.”
In 1973, Frances was awarded an MBE for her bravery.
“I went to Buckingham Palace to collect it from the Queen, but getting that award I felt very mixed emotions,” says Frances. “It seemed sad to be given it when it was down to something so tragic.”
Her accolade came on the day the public inquiry into the crash was published.
She was shocked by the conclusion: pilot error caused the plane to stall and the aircraft had not been at a sufficient height for the crew to regain control. An underlying cause was found to be that the captain, Stanley Key, 51, had a heart condition.
Among those killed were 16 doctors and senior staff from the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital.
Over the decades, Frances has met many relatives and friends of those who were killed. She says: “I’ve always tried to impart to them that even though I wasn’t related to the people who died I really did care that they would be looked after and that everything possible would be done for them.”
Frances, who still lives in the same home she did at the time, attended a church service to mark the 50th anniversary of the disaster.
The faith that comforted her after the accident inspired her 25 years’ service as a chaplain at Ashford Hospital after she retired as a nurse. Frances says: “In the immediate aftermath of the crash, all I could think about was how sad it was that so many people died... It could have been even more of a disaster. That field was the only green space outside Staines, and if the plane had gone another 50 yards it would have hit the town centre.
“I feel glad I could be there to help or give comfort in any way. “Prayers and special services where all the families can be together and talk together help make sure the people lost are never forgotten.”
I have tried to impart that I really did care that they would be looked after
FRANCES ON HER CONVERSATIONS WITH VICTIMS’ LOVED ONES