Fire over Heathrow: The tragedy of flight 712

by Susan Ottaway

An in-depth account of the 1968 London air tragedy that claimed five lives—includes interviews with cabin crew, passengers, and air traffic controllers.
 
One and a half minutes after takeoff on the clear and sunny afternoon of April 8, 1968, the Number 2 engine of BOAC Boeing 707 G-ARWE broke away from its mounting pylon and fell, tumbling in flames. Captain Cliff Taylor managed an extremely smooth touchdown about 400 yards beyond the Heathrow runway threshold and the aircraft came to a stop 1,400 yards further along the runway. The cabin crew had the doors open and passengers began escaping from the starboard over-wing exit and then via chutes at the forward and rear galley doors. Several explosions occurred and the port wing fell off, the resulting blast hurling flaming debris over the side of the aircraft. The rear escape chute was damaged by the fire and burst but, of the 126 people aboard, most of the 121 survivors had escaped before the arrival of the main fire and rescue services.
 
Thirty-eight people received treatment for injuries and five, including stewardess Barbara Jane Harrison, were overcome by heat and fumes and died aboard G-ARWE. For her bravery in trying to rescue the remaining passengers on that day, Harrison was awarded the George Cross.
 
“An amazing story . . . a fitting tribute to Jane and the other unfortunate people who lost their lives. It is extremely well written and I would highly recommend it.” —Jonathan Wright

208 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2008

About the author

Susan Ottaway was born in Windsor, brought up in Egham and educated at Sir William Perkins's Girls School in nearby Chertsey. The daughter of an aircraft engineer, she has had a lifelong enthusiasm for aeroplanes and books. She worked for four different airlines over a period of 20 years, mainly in the UK but also in Germany and Australia, and wrote her first book, a biography of Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC, before leaving the world of aviation. She then worked as a freelance editor and has since written six more books.

Her books include Violette Szabo: The Life That I Have, a biography of SOE agent Violette Szabo for which she personally interviewed Eileen Nearne. She has appeared on BBC national television to be interviewed about her work, and she took part in the four-part television series for the Discovery History Channel entitled George Cross Heroes.

Susan is a guest speaker on battlefield tours and in 2008 she delivered the Annual Dambuster Lecture at the Petwood Hotel, Woodhall Spa, home of the wartime 617 'Dambuster' Squadron.

- compiled from Andrew Lownie Literary Agency and Harper Collins

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Terrifying Flight

This book covers in detail Flight 712 which originated at Heathrow Airport back in April of 1968. This flight, referred to throughout as "Whisky Echo" was loaded with a variety of passengers, young and old as well as their luggage, and other cargo including mail, and a radioactive shipment that had to be loaded according to certain safety protocols.
Some of the passengers were emigrating to new lives in Australia, others were on holiday or going on business. No one could know that just 3 minutes and 32 seconds after take off, an engine would come apart, catch fire and fall to the ground and the fire would spread along the wing, melting windows, giving off extreme heat and smoke and terrifying those aboard! But the crew acted quickly and heroically. The Captain turned back to Heathrow, assisted by others in the cockpit. The stewardesses (as they were called at the time) did an outstanding job keeping passengers calm and then locating the safest paths of exit away from the flames as much as possible. One stewardess in particular, Barbara "Jane" Harrison was honored posthumously for her persistence and extreme bravery in trying to make sure as many people as possible got out -- even if SHE didn't! She went so far as to push people down the chutes and a few she had to push out the door or they would have died. She then went back into the smoke and flames, with explosions happening as she worked to help a wheelchair bound female passenger, a preteen girl and a couple of others. They weren't able to escape and perished with Jane by their sides. Jane was in her early 20's, fairly new at the job but excellent at it from all reports.
The story itself was interesting but I gave it 3 stars because some of it was technical and related to the aircraft, different parts, and I found that a little difficult to get through. I also sometimes had a hard time keeping up with who's who among the airline and airport crew. Some parts were a bit repetitive.
Still, if interested in air crash stories, this isn't a bad choice.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A moving and informative account of the tragedy of Flight 712, which suffered a fire on the 8th April 1968, causing the loss of five lives, including Barbara Jane Harrison, who for her bravery was posthumously awarded the George Cross, one of only four women ever to receive the award and the only one not awarded in the Second World War.

I found learning about Miss Harrison's early life to be very moving and it helped me to understand her more as a person. I also found the details about the other passengers to be very interesting.

This book was a interesting book which looks at a tragedy largely forgotten today, and the courage and bravery of one lady who sacrificed her life to try and save others.

[Evan Þ. · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the dawn of the jumbo jet age, a jet had an engine fail and burst into flame just as it took off from London Heathrow Airport. With phenomenal airmanship, the pilot and crew got the plane back to Heathrow in less than three minutes, and the flight attendants evacuated most of the passengers before flame burst over the cabin.

This book tells the story of the disaster and investigation afterwards, illustrating it with passengers' personal accounts without falling into the problem I've seen where too many disaster stories become the biographies of those involved. This book does in fact keep its focus on the moments of that day in 1968; I appreciated reading it.

[Jerry Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Straightforward telling of the story of flight 712 that caught fire right on takeoff in 1968 and the heroism of several, particularly flight attendant Jane Harrison who died trying to save others.

Falls into the category of forgotten disasters - 5 died but major calamity was avoided by good airmanship and good luck. A little on the background plus the lessons learned but otherwise a relatively lack-lustre account.