London Airport, March 3, 1am: A DAKOTA aircraft of the Sabena Airline from Brussels, arriving at London Airport, Heathrow, in thick fog soon after 9 o’clock last night, crashed on landing and burst into flames. Of the passengers and crew, numbering 22, all but three were killed.

The three survivors — one of them is Brigadier Otho William Nicholson, of Privett, Hampshire, who was a member of Parliament for the Abbey division of Westminster from 1924 to 1932 — were pulled clear of the wreckage by the first members of the airport rescue teams to reach the aircraft and taken to Hillingdon County Hospital.

The other two survivors are Mr Christopher Roberts of Little Berkhamsted, Herts; and Captain Jan Oles, of the Polish Resettlement Corps, Naval Camp, Okehampton, Devon.

By 12.30 this morning, the 19 bodies had been found and removed from the wreckage. The first body taken out was that of the pilot.

The Dakota was completely burned out, with little to show that it had been an aircraft but for the starboard wing tilted towards the sky. The bodies were all terribly burned.

This is the worst accident that has happened at London Airport. The aircraft landed in a nose dive on the grass about 50 yards from the wide concrete band of the runway which is generally used in fog. There was an explosion and the Dakota broke into fierce flames immediately.

Airport crash tenders, airport police, and NFS fire engines, including foam tenders from outlying districts, were called to the scene of the crash, and Metropolitan Police loud-speaker cars were used to control operations.

After the three survivors had been rescued the heat became so intense that no more rescues were possible. In spite of the water and foam poured on to the flames, the fire raged some time before it became possible to reach the first of the bodies.

The rescue squad and other helpers worked in the fog in the beams of portable searchlights, ankle-deep in mud and foam. In an hour or so the fire had almost burned itself out, leaving masses of red-hot ashes from which the charred bodies were extricated with great difficulty. At the hospital it was stated early this morning: “One of the three rescued is very ill and the condition of the other two is fairly good.”

It was officially stated at Airways Terminals House that no statement would be issued by Sabena until daybreak. The Dakota left Brussels just before 8pm and was expected at London airport at 9pm. When over Gravesend it was given a weather report and shortly after was given another saying that the visibility had by then decreased to about 20 yards.

The aircraft was handed over to ground control and “talked down” until within a few feet of the runway, when it was told to make a normal landing. What happened after that is not quite clear.

One theory is that the aircraft touched down on the runway and turned to port, and that the port wheel then buckled, causing the aircraft to lurch over and a wing to stab into the ground. This probably fractured the main tank, causing the fire.

Of the 19 passengers who boarded the aircraft, 14 were British citizens, two were Italians, one was a Russian, one a Pole, and the other a Cuban.

The three members of the crew were all Belgians.