On the 10th of January 1954, a British Overseas Airways Corporation Comet airliner crashed a few minutes after having taken off from Rome. The plane had started in Singapore but Antonio Criscuolo (now known as Tony Crisp) had boarded the plane at Rome.
The plane crashed off the coast of Elba and all on board were lost ... my grand-uncle included. He had married for a second time after the tragic death of his first wife. He'd married Cicely Rose Wiltshire in 1950 and I imagine they'd both done so with hope in their hearts.
Four years later he was lying at the bottom of the Mediterranean in the wreck of a dodgy built English passenger aircraft.
Like Pasqualino, he acquired a legendary status after his death. However, in his case, it may have been justified. When he died he left a shed-load of money to his siblings - Grampa was named as the executor (so far as I know).
Whatever the ins and outs, a good man died because of the failings of a dodgy engineer or designer. 35 People died on that flight.
It's not really any consolation but after that crash, the plane was grounded and they found that the problem was that the portholes had square corners which led to metal fatigue and the collapse of the body of the aircraft. A basic error? I thought everyone knew that curves are stronger than angles. Apparently not the engineer who designed the Comet.
Tony was a businessman and he was a relatively successful businessman. When he died he left loadsa money!!??
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