2. Llandow air disaster
Date: 12th March 1950
Summary: Stall
Location: Sigingstone, Wales
Triumph turned to tragedy when 75 Welsh rugby supporters and five crew members were killed in a plane crash as they returned from an international match in Ireland.
The plane, an Avro 689 Tudor V named Star Girl, had been chartered privately to take supporters to see Wales take on Ireland in rugby union’s Five Nations Championship.
After an uneventful outbound flight, the 78 supporters travelled up to Belfast via Dublin to see Wales beat Ireland 6-3 to win the Triple Crown and were in high spirits when they boarded the plane in Dublin on Sunday afternoon.
However, almost home, the aircraft stalled and plummeted towards the ground, coming to rest in a field in the village of Sigingstone.
That there was no fire failed to reduce the death toll, as most of the passengers died on impact as their seats – not properly bolted to the plane’s floor – were flung around the fuselage.
Only three passengers staggered out of the wreckage and although another 10 were pulled out alive, they died in hospital later. The final casualty figure of 80 made the Llandow disaster the worst accident in aviation history at the time.